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OUR GIPSIES
IN
CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR
OKIGIN AND STKANGE LIFE,
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES, 4c,
SPECIMENS OF THEIR DIALECT, AND AMUSING ANECDOTES OF GIPSY
KINGS, QUEENS, AND OTHER GIPSY NOTABILITIES.
HY
VERNON S. JJPRWOOD,
AUTHOR OF "FACTS AND PHASES OF ANIMAL LIFE;" "WONDERFUL ANIMALS,
WOBJUMO, DOMESTIC, AND WILD;" " CLABIS8A THE GIPSY;"
•'THE GIPSY SCARE;" ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY 17 SKETCHES FROM LIFE AND FROM NATURE.
LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEAliLE, & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET, E.C.
1885.
[All rights r curved ]
T .
LONDON .'
rniNTcn by william clowes and sons, limited,
STAMFORD STREKT AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE.
Although, according to the best authorities, gipsies
have lived in England nearly four hundred years, yet
comparatively little is known either of their origin,
character, or general life. Added to this fact, the
Author begs to state that his reasons for submitting
the following pages to the public are : First f That
he has had many opportunities of gaining a know-
ledge of the gipsies by frequent visits to them in
their tents and vans, and by conversations with them
respecting their own history and life. The Second
reason is that some writers have, in their descriptions
of this people, leaned too much to the dark side of
their character, which, he thinks, is not fair, but
even unjust to them.
The Author does not profess to give either an
elaborate treatise on the origin of the gipsies, or a
full delineation of their strange life, but simply some
phases of it, and to show its light as well as its dark
side. lie believes his arguments in favour of the
theory he entertains of their origin, his remarks on
the persecutions to which they have been subjected,
vi
PREFACE.
their moral and social characteristics, their mental
powers and capabilities of improvement, will help to
invest the study of them with considerable interest,
and to convince the reader that the gipsies are
worth the efforts of the philanthropist, of the humane
and benevolent, to educate, to civilize, and to make
them good citizens, as well as members of the
Christian Church.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER t
THE GIPSIES — A SEPARATE AHD MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE.
Gipsies tented in a lane — All not gipsies who lead gipsy
lives — Curious whim of a gentleman — Physical charac-
teristics of real gipsies — Peculiarities of costume —
Are gipsies on the increase? — A strange practice —
Names of gipsies in different countries — Origin of the
word gipsy — Division into clans — Gipsy coronation at
Yet holm — Lame Jamie, and the royal dance — Gipsies
a distinct variety of the human species J
CHAPTER It
THE OR[GIN OF THE GIPSIES.
Gipsy girl on Bow Common — Robert Lee and his fore-
father** — Different theories of the origin of gipsies—
The Jats, or Yats — A Persian monarch— The Arabs and
the Jews — Sudras and Pariahs — Words of the Hindo-
stanee, gipsy, and English languages— Old Lovell, the
gipsy scissors-grinder— Choice of food — Pursuits of
gipsies — Religion of gipsies and Sudras — Resemblance
in personal features— The woodman's gipsy wife — The
comparison — Staining the *' babbies "—Gipsy Boswell
and the shepherd kings, Ac. „ „ H 15
CHAPTER IIL
MIGRATIONS ASH PEItSECUTIOXS OK THE GlI'SIES.
Why gipsies left their native country— A gipsy tradition
— First appearance in Europe — Gipsies in France and
Spain, and how treated — Introduction into England —
viii
CONTENTS.
Legal enactments — A fearful testimony — False evi-
dence — The young gipsy and new-born child — The
judge, and gipsy condemned to death — March of
gipsies through England to Scotland — A letter from
James IV., Johnno Faw, lord and erle — The Countess of
Cassillis — Laws passed against gipsies in Scotland, &c . . 3G
CHAPTER IV.
DIALECT OF THE GIPSIES.
Sylvester Boswoll, a learned gipsy — His explanations of
tho gipsy language — Smart and Crofton's gipsy vocabu-
lary — English and gipsy words demoting human rela-
tionship — Farts of human and animal bodies — Wearing
apparel — Furniture, food and drink — Buildings of
various kinds— Quadrupeds, birds, and insects — Titles
of office and employment — Money — The works of nature
— Tho seasons, division of time — Words used by the
Scottish gipsies — Paragraph specimens of tho gipsy
dialect — Popular gipsy proverbs — The Lord's Prayer
in the gipsy dialect .. .. .. .. 54
CHAPTER V.
GIPSY SURNAMES, AND INTRUDERS INTO GIPSY FAMILIES.
The most common names of tho gipsies — Tho most ancient
gipsy families — Romantic and uncommon names of
gipsy girls — Origin of gipsy surnames— Pride in high
blood — Old Jowles, the Somersetshire king of tho
gipsies — Stephens — Tho Carews — Foreign names of
gipsies — Adoption by writers and actors of other names
of common occurrence — The origin of many of our
own family names .. .. .. .. .. .. 71
CHAPTER VI.
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFE.
The " tug of war " — Antagonistic views — " Use is second
nature "—Old Draper the kettle-mender — Why he pre-
CONTENTS.
ferred the hedge to the house — ** Gipsies* campaign from
Lock's Fields'* — A living dining table — u You are a
wild set*' — Gipsy love of freedom and fresh air — An
unequal match — An interesting but mysterious story
— A little suspicious — The farmer and some gipsies in
Sussex — The stolen sheep — Strange conduct of a gipsy
man at a funeral — An encounter between a policeman
and gipsy Riley— Two cowards and the gipsies 85
CHAPTER VII.
THE TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF THE OIPSrES.
Tents an ancient order of architecture — An aristrocratio
tout and how it was furnished — A chat in a gipsy van
— Some cartes-de-visite — How the gipsies cook their
food — Visit to the town residence of an old gipsy ; and
how we fared — The king of tho Yctholm gipsies— The
dwellings of his subjects — The domestic habits and
industry of some gipsy women — Gipsy love of music —
Dancing and other amusements — Quarrels among the
gipsies— Jealousy— Gipsies and tho game laws —
Poaching — A gipsy chief and his men in council — A
disputed point— A wicked act — A gipsy *h bill of tare —
A gipsy dinner party — Employment of gipsies .. 109
CHAPTER VIII.
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC.
Gipsy courtship— Gipsy man and his pint measure
full of sovereigns — A wedding present — Marriago of
"William Lee and Ada Bob we 11 — Gipsy wedding in a
sand-pit — Fiddling, dancing, carousing — The author
one of the spectators — A lady's misplaced affection —
A marvellous and strange story — A gipsy chair-mender
— The fanner's widow and gipsy Smith— The young
mechanic and gipsy girl — Gipsy law about marriage
— Births of gipsy children — The midwife, and gipsy
child born one midnight under a hedge — Baptisms
of gipsy children— C— — a Lock and the rector — An
interesting interview 133
X
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
LONGEVITY, DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES.
PAGE
Theory of a German philosopher — A human skeleton dis-
covered in a field — Longevity of gipsies — Funeral of
Lepronia Lee — A remarkable coincidence — Grave of
a gipsy scissors- grinder— Curious account of a gipsy
funeral — Death of a patriarchal gipsy — A strange
burial — Death *nd funeral of a gipsy queen — A gipsy
king — Strange notions of the gipsies about the dead
— Grief of gipsy mothers when a child dies — The tomb
of a gipsy king — The king of the Orkney gipsies —
Burial of the gipsy queen — An affecting scene — Death
and funeral of Matilda Stanley — Under the yew tree
— Burying valuable property .. ..161
CHAPTER X.
JEW8, GIPSIES, MONEY, VANITY, GRAND BALLS, ETC.
Points in which Jews and gipsies agree and differ — Gipsy
speculators — Money-makers, and misers — Wandsworth
gipsies — A cup of gold tea — An eccentric gipsy woman
— Gipsy vanity — Arnold Smith, a gipsy horse-dealer—
Silver coin shanked for buttons — Gipsy ball in a field
— Gay and costly dresses and jewellery, &o. — An
intruder threatened with a gipsy castigation — Two
gipsy girls and the jeweller — Gipsy notions of pawn-
shops — Borrowed money — Law of honour, and how
carried out .. .. .. .. 183
CHAPTER XI.
MENTAL POWERS; GIPSY TEACHERS AND PUPILS.
Causes of neglect of mental culture among the gipsies —
A wandering life unfavourable — Requirements of the
human intellect — Gipsy children great talkers —
Mental capacities of gipsies — A queer story of Sandie
Brown and the bullock's tail — The farmer and gipsy
horse-dealer— A young gipsy cripple — A school of
CONTENTS.
xi
gipsy children— Sylvester Bos well and his library — A
novel system of education— John Steggall, the Suffolk
gipsy — Gipsies observant of passing events — What a
gipsy woman once said to the Author about the educa-
tion of their children .. 200
CHAPTEB XII.
ALLEGED VICES OF GIFSrES, AND HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS,
Clipping coin — Robbing hen-roosts — Highway robbers
and house-breakers— Knack of vamping up old horses
— Kidnapping — Gipsies not forgers— Nor political
agitators— Gipsy hospitality to strangers — The be-
nighted traveller — A distant glimmer — Night in a gipsy
tent — How it was spent — Departure — Search for a
stray bullock, and how it ended — A gipsy with a
generous heart — The gipsy and the drowned boy, an
affecting incident not to be forgotten „ 225
CHAPTER XIII.
OIPSY GRATITUDE — SPIRIT OF REVENGE*
Power of kindness— An interesting story of a lady and
a gipsy family in Buckinghamshire — The roasted
hedgehog, wild flowers, and the bright half-crown
— Gipsy spirit of revenge — The man who would join
the gipsies — His initiation — His escape — The gipsies
on his track, and the result which followed — Gipsy
love and jealousy — Edward Bulwcr, afterwards Lord
Lytton, fascinated by a gipsy girl — Several days at tlie
tent — Tho young gipsy men threaten him — His forced
departure from the gipsies — A daring act, which
might have cost a life 240
CHAPTER XIV.
woRxnca akd pet animals of gipsies.
ionship — Alleged cruelty by the gipsies — Black-
eath, and Hampstead Hc:it!i IV>isun<>ns drugs and
xii
CONTENTS.
powders — Acts of which gipsies are not guilty — What
Augustus Sala says — A Somers Town gipsy scissors-
grinder and his donkey " Jack " — Old " Jet " and her
sand bank stable — The dogs of gipsies — A gipsy girl
and her cat — Gipsies and their feathered companions
— A bantam cock with gold rings .. .. 265
CHAPTER XV.
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND DREAMS OF GIPSIES.
Religious notions of gipsies — Have no books, records, or
lexicons — Notion of the Wallachians — Mother Stanley's
idea of God and His mercy — Transmigration — The
gipsy who didn't like ceremony — Gipsies at a cathedral
service, and what they thought of it — The old gipsy
whose clothes were not a good fit — A gipsy lectures
the Author — The gipsy chief and his child — Super-
stitions and dreams of the gipsies — " The evil eye," &o. 280
CHAPTER XVI.
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES OF THE GIPSIES.
Chiromancy — Astrology — Disappointed lovors — Plans
adopted by gipsies in fortune-telling — The two female
servants and the frying-pan — Gipsy success in fortune-
telling — The original Peggy — A credulous baker —
Bori Hokani, or the "great trick" — An old bachelor
and gipsy girl — A deep-laid scheme — The Quaker and
the gipsy — Tho Lisson Grove fortune-teller — Telling
the fortune of a fortune-teller — A fortune told in
Greenwich Park to a very gullible young man — The
secret of gipsy success in fortune-tolling — Gipsies good
readers of human character — Rivals in fortune-telling
— The surgeon's widow — u Zendovesta " — The old
woman who lived in the mews — Copy of a remarkable
handbill about casting nativities, <fcc 296
CONTENTS.
xiii
CHAPTER XVII.
GIPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN GIPSYDOM.
PACK
The condition of our gipsy claimants — Claims of the
gipsies on philanthropic, moral, and Christian offorts,
and on what they are founded — A problem difficult of
solution — Harsh measures of no avail — Travelling
habitations of gipsies — Bates and taxes — Compulsory
education of gipsies— A few hints to School Board
directors and agents — Gipsies won by kindness — Duty
of ministers— Plan adopted by Laplanders — Committees
of ladies and gentlemen, and what they might do-
Twilight in gipsydom — A gipsy missionary — The Not-
ting Dale gipsies — Thomas Hearno — A Eensal Green
gipsy and his story — Epping Forest gipsies— Great
changes for the better — Encouragements to efforts, &c. 321
The King and the Dying Gipsy .. .. 345
The Gipsies' Appeal
350
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Frontispiece. P * Q *
The Tent and the Mansion 1
"Old Lovell," Scissors-grinder .. .. 15
Gipsy Draper, Umbrella-mender .. .. .. 36
Sylvester Boswell's Cart and Tent 54
Isaac Jowles, King of the Somersetshire Gipsies .. 71
The Farmer and his Stolen Sheep .. .. 85
Gipsy Chief and his Men in Council .. .. 109
A Wedding Present to Gipsy Girl .. .. .. 133
Mother Leatherhead (115 years old) .. .. 161
A Cup of Gold Tea .. .. 183
Sylvester Boswell, a Learned Gipsy .. 200
A Generous-hearted Gipsy Woman, one of the Chilcotts 225
Gipsy Boy Musician .. .. .. 246
A Gipsy Donkey at Ease .. .. .. 265
A Gipsy Girl at Prayer 280
One of the Stanleys — Fortune-teller 296
Thomas Hearne, Chair-mender 321
THE TKKT AND TUB MANSION.
CHAPTER I.
THE GIPSIE3 — A SEPARATE AND MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE,
Gipsies ton tod in a lane — All not gipsies who lead gipsy
Hvc« — Curious whim of a gentleman — Physical characteris-
tics of real gipsies — Peculiarities of costume — Are gipsies on
the increase? — A strange practice — Names of gipsies in
different countries — Origin of the word gipsy — Division iiitn
clans — Gipsy coronation at Yet holm — Lame Jamio, and the
royal dance — Gipsies a distinct variety of tho human
species.
41 Hast thou not noted on the hy-way side,
Where aged saughs lean o'er the lazy tide,
A vagrant crew, far straggled through the glado.
With trifles "busied, or in slumber httd ;
Their children round them lolling on tho grass,
Or postering with their sports the patient ass?
n
2 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
The wrinkled beldame there you may espy,
And ripe young maiden with the glossy eye —
Men in their prime— and striplings dark and dun,
Scathed by the storm, and freckled with the sun ;
Strange are their annals ! list and mark them well,
For thou hast much to hear, and I to tell."
Hogg.
As there is a " magic charm in mystery," it is no
doubt on this account that the interest and curiosity
of some people are excited and awakened whenever
they hear the word gipsies mentioned, or any refer-
ence made to their romantic life, which is shrouded
in so much mystery, that it is difficult, even to the
industrious student of ethnology, to ascertain who
and what the gipsies really are. In commencing
an account of our many interviews with the gipsies,
we may state it was in mid-winter, about Christmas
time, that we started, one cold morning, on a journey
of twenty miles, the greater part of which was
travelled by rail, but the remainder of it was
traversed on foot, the residence of the clergyman
we were about to visit lying in a cross-country
direction. The scene around was gloomy; winter
reigned supreme over nature; the melody of the
birds was hushed ; scudding clouds swept angrily
by ; and the north wind was piercingly cold.
Just before reaching cur destination we discovered
that some gipsies had pitched in a bye-lane two or
three tents, whose tattered canvas flapped hither
and thither in the wind. The men belonging to
them were away, but two women, a girl and four
boys formed an interesting group. One of the
women was suffering from contraction of the muscles
of one of her legs, the result of a chill, "caught,"
0IPSIE8 — A SEP All ATE AND MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE. 3
she said, "in the damp lanes;'* the other woman,
who was pale and attenuated, with her head en-
veloped in a red kerchief, was sitting on the ground
beside a few embers burning at the opening of
the tent. The children were scantily clad, and
in all respects presented a rough and wild aspect;
they nevertheless exhibited a rollicking gaiety of
heart, as they occasionally gave specimens of
their gymnastic acquirements, which invariably
ended with the appeal, "Give us a penny, good
genleman ! "
Within view of this camping spot stood two or
three village mansions, silently eloquent of archi-
tectural genius without, of light, plenty, and comfort
within, and at the same time forming a striking
contrast to the fragile habitations of the gipsies
referred to; especially as a little distance only
divided these two extremes of social life. It was
on this occasion we became more than ever con-
vinced that we have dwelling amongst us a race
of human beings who differ widely from our-
selves, not only in their origin t but in their life
and habits, and who are altogether distinct from
the professional tramp, or roaming casual ; in fact
that
TOE GIPSIES ARE A SEPARATE PEOPLE.
It is an error to suppose that all are gipsies who
lead roving and gipsy-like lives. There are many
men and women of our own race who, through
different causes and for various reasons, betnko
themselves to the same wandering mode of life as
that led by gipsy nomads*
b 2
4
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
We know an instance in which a gentleman of
good family had so great a partiality to the gipsy
people and their romantic life, that during the summer-
time he would join them, travel when they travelled,
stop where they stopped, and in all respects lived
their life, and was one with them, excepting that
he had his own horse and van very comfortably
fitted up, but which he never would allow to be
occupied by any one but himself. The rambles of
this eccentric gentleman with the gipsies extended
through several summers.
There are also great numbers of men and women
with their families, most of them natives of the
" black country," who are constantly travelling
about, and living in vans, the outsides of which are
usually laden with brooms, brushes, baskets, and
other articles for domestic use, and who are on this
account looked upon as gipsies, but with whom
they can claim no physical relationship whatever.
Th6 only things in which they are at all identical
are the occupations they follow, and their wan-
dering life.
With but few exceptions, those who claim kindred
with the pure remnants of the gipsy people may be
easily known by certain physical peculiarities which
that race everywhere presents. The men are; as a
rule, of middle stature, well made and muscular,
remarkably upright and full chested, while in
walking their step is firm and quick. Some of the
gipsy men measure six feet high, and we knew one
who was two inches taller. Some of the women in
youth have very handsome features. Their arched
nostrils, prominent septa, their hair, flowing in ,
GIPSIES— A SEPARATE AND MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE. 5
glossy tresses over their tawny but well-formed
shoulders, their noses, mostly of Grecian type, the
pearly lustre of their dark piercing eyes, their
confident mode of address, and ready command of
language, with other characteristics, furnish cor-
roborative evidence that they are as distinct a people
as the Jews*
Restless as the gipsies really are, we may easily
recognise them even in our streets as tinkers, razor
and scissors grinders, vendors of clothes-pegs, lines,
and tin-ware.
They may be seen at feasts, fairs and races, as
horse-dealers, fiddlers, fortune-tellers, and, it may be,
as sharpers. The women and girls may be easily
distinguished from others by the gay colours of their
dresses, their red and yellow kerchiefs, and by their
plaid shawls, which in most cases are richer in
colour than in real value. The men may be known
by their slouching hats, velveteen coats and vests,
covered profusely with steel buttons, by their
trousers and small-clothes of corduroy, and we may
add, by their swarthy complexions and marked
profiles. By these they may be readily picked out
of the largest crowd, among whom they may tempo-
rarily mingle.
A visit to the greenwood side, to the deep recesses
of some wide-spread forest, to the bye-road, to the
unfrequented lane with its thick shady hedge, and to
the sheltering embankment under which is pitched
the humble tent, where the smoke ascends in curling
clouds from the wood fire, and where the "pot"
sends forth a savoury steam, upon which the dark
eyes of a tawny group are intently fixed, will at
6 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
once convince us that the gipsies voluntarily yield to
a feeling of separation from civilised society, and
that they have but little or no desire to fraternise
with other races of men. Reform has at no time
seemed to inspire them, for they cling to the notions
and customs which their forefathers entertained and
observed as tenaciously as to life itself. Time, which
in its revolutions affects well-nigh everything, which
causes thrones to totter, and once mighty empires to
pass away like a fleeting cloud, has scarcely effected
any change for the better, either in the social life,
the habits, or ideas of these mysterious tribes.
Although nearly four centuries have elapsed since
the immigration of gipsies, they are almost as distinct
a race now as they were then. Admitting that some
of this people have amalgamated with our own and
other races, it is nevertheless a mistake to suppose
they are rapidly becoming extinct. We state on the
authority of the late Rev. J. West, that during the
time of Queen Elizabeth the gipsies numbered only
10,000, but that now we have amongst us from
18,000 to 20,000 of them, a very large portion of
whom live in our lanes, sleep under our hedges or
in vans, and are in a state of moral and mental
destitution.
From the most correct statistical information
obtainable on this subject we learn that on the
Continent
GIPSIES ARE ON THE INCREASE,
the entire race numbering about 900,000. They are
very numerous in Transylvania. We have been
GIPSIES — A SEPARATE AND MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE. 7
credibly informed that in Pestli and neighbourhood
there are 10,000 of them; in Spain about 00,000;
in Hungary 40,000; in Turkey 100,000. Before
the late Franco-German war took place the forest of
Lorraine swarmed with them, and they now abound
in great numbers in Moldavia, Wallachia, in Russia,
and other parts of Europe and Asia. Numbers of
this strange race may be seen at the present time
near the Jaffa gate at Jerusalem, where, in a state
of senii-nudity, they sit and solicit alms of those
who may be entering or returning from that sacred
city.
In all these countries, as well as in England, this
people are distinct from those among whom they
wander. Everywhere they seem to be inspired with
the idea that " self-interest n is the first law of
nature ; for in their dealings with other people they
are influenced only by the calls of necessity, and a
desire to secure and to increase their own success.
Selfishness is not, however, more innate in them
than it is in other people ; its existence and ex-
hibition are, no doubt, the consequences of their sad
condition.
So exclusive are the gipsies, both in their notions
and habits, that no recognition of mutual interest,
nor sense of moral and social obligations, binds them
in the bond of brotherhood with other men. They
live apart from others, have a nationality of their
own, which in every way they strive to perpetuate.
They scorn the fetters of civilization, and revel with
delight in wild freedom.
We are informed by a popular writer on gipsies
that a certain rite is practised in Spain by this
8
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
people, called " the infusion of blood," which ap-
pears to be employed by them for the purpose
of intermingling the tide of their lives, and of
binding them together in a strange brotherhood of *
blood. When a child is about a year old, and in
order to inoculate it doubly with the gipsy spirit,
so that no association in after life shall separate it
from the life and habits of its forefathers, they
open the flesh of its arm, and by a wooden tube
infuse therein the blood of another full-born gipsy*
who has been true to the life and spirit- of their
league from childhood. The wound is then healed,
being securely closed and bound together, and
the blood thus mingled in the system of the child
is believed, on philosophical grounds, so to im-
pregnate the system as to imbue it in part with
the spirit of him from whom it was taken. Although
we are not aware that this custom is observed by
English gipsies, the practice, as resorted to by the
Gitanos of Spain, gives corroborative proof that the
gipsies are a strange, mysterious, and separate
people.
Scattered as they are throughout so many countries
in which different languages are spoken, we may
naturally suppose that in them
THE GIPSIES ARE KNOWN BY VARIOUS NAMES.
For instance, in Poland they are called " Zingani " ;
in Italy, " Zingari " ; " Gitanos " in Spain ; " Bohe-
mians " in France ; 44 Ziegenners " in Germany ;
" Heydenen " in Hdland ; " Siganos " in Portugal ;
in Lithunia they are known as "Zigonas" ; in
OIPSIES^A SEPARATE AND MYSTEMOUS PEOPLE. 9
Turkey as H Tchinganes"; and amongst the Moors
and Arabians as " Charami," Robbers ; by the
Persians they are called ** Sesech Hindou," or
" Black Indians." Their most ancient name is that
of "Suite/* or inhabitants of the banks of the
" Sinde " or " Indus." The celebrated M. Hasee has
tried to prove that for the last 3000 years there
have been in Europe wandering tribes bearing the
name of " Segynes," or " Sinti." He considers the
modern gipsies are^ the descendants of these ancient
hordes.
Referring to the appellation this people bear in
England, Mr, S. H. Ward, who expresses a by no
means uncommon notion entertained on this subject,
says : ** The word gipsy is corrupted from the word
Egyptian, for they were imagined to have come
from Egypt." It is tolerably certain that when this
people first came to this country they called them-
selves " Egyptians," but it is far more likely that the
term gipsies was applied to them from the Greek
word " gyps " (yv^), a vulture (which Greek word
is applied to an undergraduate's valet at Oxford and
Cambridge), and as the gipsies have been, in many
cases, deservedly stigmatised as plunderers and petty
swindlers, it is probable that they were so denomi-
nated on that account.
It will be inferred from the foregoing statements
that there is scarcely any country in Europe without
its gipsies, ** but .how far the treatment they have
received from civilized nations, among whom they
have been universally objects of contempt or per-
secution, has tended to keep them in their present
state of intellectual debasement by strengthening
10 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
their prejudices and driving them to the usual
resources of indigence, demands the serious and
dispassionate consideration of every friend of hu-
manity."
The gipsies in England are not, as some people
suppose, altogether regardless of the interdictions of
our laws, the force of which they have often felt, nor
are they slow in availing themselves, when it is
necessary, of the protection the laws of this country
afford. Gipsies, however, have laws peculiar to
themselves for their own government, and which
they rigidly carry out. These having been orally
transmitted from fathers to sons, during the whole
period of their sojourn in England, furnishes another
proof that gipsies wish to remain a separate people,
not only here, but in every country where they
exist.
The custom of dividing themselves into clans or
companies, each clan appointing over it a presiding
genius in the person of an experienced man or
woman, to whom they submit with deference, affords
further proof of their distinct nationality. Although
the practice of electing a king or queen to rule over
them is on the decline, if not altogether obsolete, yet
the distinction was, some time ago, conferred upon
a female gipsy in Scotland, of which the Kelso
Chronicle gives the following account : —
"GIPSY CORONATION AT YETHOLM.
" The coronation of her majesty, Queen Esther Faa
Blyth, which has been for a few weeks a subject of
much discussion, took place last week. There were
GIPSIES— A SEPARATE AND MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE. 11
70 candidates in the field for the vacant honour,
tt was decided to settle the matter by election ; but
on the day fixed for the purpose, no opposition was
offered, and she (Esther) was forthwith chosen
queen, and the coronation ceremony duly performed.
The royal proclamation which she issued had the
effect of calling together a goodly number of the
tribe ; but the weather became very unfavourable,
and no doubt deterred many of the general public
from witnessing the ceremony. On this interesting
occasiou Esther was accompanied by princes and
princesses of the royal blood — her brother, Prince
Charles, and nephew of the same name and title ;
and two of the princesses attended her majesty on
horseback, some of her majesty's grandchildren also
being present. The queen, mounted upon her
palfrey, proceeded to the cross, where the ceremony
of coronation was to be performed, the crown-bearer
and crowner following behind,
"The procession having halted, the crowner stepped
forward, and placed the coronet upon her head, a
Scotch thistle being a prominent object upon it.
The crowner, from a roll of parchment, proclaimed
that he^ having crowned her deceased father, King
Charles, from his inherent right of crowner, and
from the fact of the late king dying intestate, now
placed the crown upon the head of Esther, and with
public proclamation at the cross of her dominions,
he proclaimed her Queen Esther Faa Blytb, 1 Chal-
genge who dare/ On the termination of the royal
ceremony her loyal subjects rent the air with three
times three cheers, and long life and happiness to
^ueen Esther was the general cry. The queen, in a
12
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
short and pathetic speech, thanked her subjects for
the high honour they had conferred upon her in
choosing her to occupy the throne of her ancestors,
and expressed the hope that during her reign they
would conduct themselves quietly and live at peace
with all men.
"Afterwards a congratulatory address was pre-
sented to her majesty on her happy accession to the
throne, expressing a fervent wish that she might
long worthily fulfil the duties of her royal house.
A supply of genuine * mountain dew ' was handed
round, and flowing bumpers quaffed to her majesty's
health and happiness. The procession being again
formed, the queen's piper, riding his ' sprightly*
charger, his wife Elizabeth acting as groom-in-
waiting, attended by a whole host of followers,
proceeded through the village, calling at the various
inns, and refreshing her attendants, her majesty
frequently recognising individuals of her acquain-
tance. After they had returned to the cross, the
queen in a short speech thanked her attendants and
subjects for their attention, and seated on the chair
of state proposed that * Lamed Jamie* and her
majesty, with her sister-in-law and royal brother,
should lead down the dance, which was done with
spirit, but the slippery state of the green pre-
vented the free use of the feet After awhile, how-
ever, the rain compelled them to retire under
cover, where her majesty held a * levee,' the royal
princes and princesses and retinue only being
admitted."
Although the gipsies claim one common origin,
and are similar in their dispositions, tastes, and
JPSIES—A SEPARATE AND MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE. 13
habits, there is nevertheless amongst them an aris-
tocracy who have such notions of superiority that
some of the clans will form no matrimonial alliance
with others whom they deem inferior to themselves.
It is also very rcmarkahle that in the few instances
in which gipsies of this and other countries have
been induced to abandon tent life and to settle in
towns, they nevertheless pride themselves in belong-
ing to the gipsy race, and in possessing a knowledge
of their language, although they try to conceal the
fact of their gipsy descent from other people because of
the ill-feeling which everywhere exists against them.
Referring to the separatedness of gipsies from all
other races of men, a certain writer on this subject
ys : " That they were a peculiar variety of the
uman species, and had hereditary causes, whether
rejudices or traditions, which stamped them as
distinctly and stubbornly a separate portion of
humanity as the Jews, became obvious enough. That
which had been supposed a mere gibberish in their
mouth was found to be true Eastern language, and
infested all the world. In every quarter of it they
„ere found exhibiting the same strange and un-
bangeable lineaments, manners and habits; in
gypt as separate from the Egyptians in speech and
custom as they are separate from the English in
England,"
We have never been able to prevail upon any
ipsies with whom we have conversed to admit that
ny tie of consanguinity connects them either with
the Jews or the Gentiles 5 and yet, like the former,
they are a bye-word in well-nigh every nation ; M they
re dispersed, despised, without a country and with-
14
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
out a king ; with a nationality unbroken either by
time, persecution, or admixture of blood, with a spirit
of clanship and brotherhood that nothing has ever
been able to quench." They remain to this day a
distinct and separate people.
u OLD LQYELL," 6C1880BS-GBLNUEII.
CHAPTER EL
THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES.
Gipsy girl on Bow Common — Robert Loo and hie forefathers—
I>ifferent theories of the origin of gipsies — The jata, or
yats — A Persian monarch — The Arabs and the Jews— Sndras
and Pariahs — Words of the Hindostanoe, gipsy, and English
langnages — Old Lovell t the gipsy scissors-grin dor— Choice of
food — Pursuits of gipsies— Religion of gipsies and Sudras —
Resemblance in personal features — The woodman's gipsy
wife — The comparisons — Staining the 'babbies' — Gipsy
Bos well and the shepherd kings, ifcc.
* Why floats the silvery wreath
Of light thin smoke from yonder bank of heath ?
What forms are those beneath the shaggy trees,
In tattered tents scarce sheltered from the breeze ?
16 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
The hoary father and the ancient damo,
And squalid children, cowering o'er the flame,
The swarthy lineaments — the wild attire —
The stranger tones bespeak an Eastern Sire."
Stanley. — " Prize poem."
The origin of the gipsies is involved in considerable
obscurity, as shown in the fact that they possess
no direct or well authenticated information on the
subject at all likely to lead to a right solution of
this difficult problem. In illustration of this we
may refer to a conversation we once had with a
gipsy woman who was at that time, with others of
her tribe, camping on Bow Common.
" As you know," we said to her, " gipsies are not
of our race, but altogether distinct from us both in
life and habits, do you, or any of your folks know
what country the forefathers of the gipsies were
supposed to be natives of, or in which they lived
before they came to England ? "
"Oh!" replied the woman, "it would take me
a long time to explain that to you, so you must
excuse my trying to do so." Having assured her
that we did not wish her to enter into details re-
specting the matter, we asked, " Did your people
come, in the first place, from Egypt or from India ? "
From the vague and laconic answer we received to
our enquiry it was evident that this woman knew
less of general geography, and the relative positions
the above countries sustain to each other, than she
did of the topography of either Bow Common or of
that of many of the lanes and cozy nooks of this her
native country; for after some hesitation, and ap-
parent effort to give us what information she could,
she replied, " Why, sare, we believe we came from
THE ORIGIN OF TEE GIPSIES,
17
both them countries, and that is all I can tell you/*
Of course we were made very little wiser for our
inquisitiveness on the origin of this strange race.
We once asked Robert Lee, a very intelligent
gipsy-man, the same question we had asked the
woman referred to, when, in a half-angry tone of
voice, he replied, u I don't know, sir, nor I don't care;
I knows I'm here, and that's all that concerns me."
It is said that about thirty different theories on
the origin of the gipsies have been entertained by
learned men ; many of whom have paid special
attention to this subject. We shall, however, refer
only to a few of them.
As we have already stated, some persons suppose
that
THE GIPSIES ARE OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN.
This notion prevails to a great extent amongst all
classes of society in England, especially amongst
our peasantry. One morning we happened to visit
Stonehouse, a village in Gloucestershire, on which
occasion we overheard some remarks made by two
women on a gipsy girl passing down the other side
of the road opposite to where they were standing.
"I say," said one of the women to the other,
"why that's a gipsy; they're queer sort o' folks
arnt they ? I wonders where they came from ? "
" Lor/' said the other woman, " doant you know?
I can tell you ; they came from Egypt to be sure,
and that's the reason why they be called gipsies."
Common, however, as this notion of the origin
of the gipsies may be, it is very remarkable that
but few words of the Coptic or ancient language of
c
18
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Egypt are to be found in the gipsy dialect, and that
gipsies have always been regarded in that " land
of wonders " as strangers, aliens, and foreigners.
Although the gipsies are known by different
appellations in the various countries of continental
Europe, yet everywhere they are considered to be
Egyptians. This, we think, may be easily accounted
for. It is well known that many of the ancient
Egyptians had the "character of great cheats,"
whence the name might afterwards pass proverbially
into other languages.
There is no doubt that the gipsies in their migra-
tions visited Egypt, where they acquired an ex-
tended knowledge of sleight of hand, legerdemain,
astrology and fortune-telling. After leaving Egypt,
and making their appearance in Europe and after-
wards in Great Britain, it no doubt soon became
known that these strangers had not only come from
Egypt, but that they w r ere cheating and deceiving
the people by practising many of those tricks they
had learned in the country from which they had
been driven. Hence arise two reasons why they
are thought by so many to be of Egyptian origin.
Other writers believe that
GIPSIES ARE OP I8RAELITJSH ORIGIN,
a notion which is referred to by the Ettrick shepherd
in the following lines : —
" ! mark them well when next the group you see
In vacant barn or resting on the lea ;
They are the remnant of a race of old;
Spare not the trifle for your fortune told ;
THE OHIO IN OF THE OIPSIES.
19
For then ahalt thou l>eholtl with nature blent
A tint of mind in every lineament ;
A mould of soul distinct, but hard to trace,
Unknown, except to Israel's wandering race ;
From thence, as Sages say, their line they drew ;
O mark them well, the tales of old are true,"
Philologists state that not more than fifty Hebrew
'ords are to be found in the language of the gipsies ;
and in no part of the world do gipsies observe any
ceremony peculiar to the Hebrew nation.
The belief that the gipsies are of Israeli tish origin
appears to derive some support from the adoption
by them of several names found in the old and new
Testament — such as Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham,
Ebenezer, Joseph, Moses, Israel, Isaac, Jacob,
Hezekiab, Jonab, Solomon, David, Daniel, Obadiah,
Amos, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, &c.
This belief is, however, weakened by the fact that
the same Scripture names are of common use amongst
ourselves* We are not aware that any conclusive
proof has yet been given by any writer that the
majority, at least, of the English people can claim
any consanguinity with the children of Israel,
THE ISHMAELITISR ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES
has also its advocates, who argue that the similarity
of manners and of physical conformation between
gipsies and the roving hordes of Arabia prove their
common descent. Hogg states them to have been a
u tribe of Arabs, who during the Crusades were
induced to act as guides and allies of the Crusaders
againBt Jerusalem, and were compelled, on the
retreat of the Christians, to flee/'
c 2
20 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
One writer says : " It is not surprising that they
should be regarded as the real descendants of
Ishmael, for they have all the characteristics of his
race ; an eastern people, retaining all the features of
mind or body in unchangeable fixedness; neither
growing fairer in the temperate latitudes, nor darker
in the sultry ones ; perpetual wanderers and dwellers
in tents, active, fond of horses, often herdsmen;
artful, thievish, restrained by no principle but that
of a cunning policy from laying hands on any man's
possessions; fond to enthusiasm of the chase after
game, though obliged to follow it at midnight, as
everlastingly isolated by their organic or moral
conformation from the people amongst whom they
dwell as the Jews themselves."
A gentleman of high classical attainments, and
well known to us, having studied this question deeply,
has arrived at the conclusion that these nomadic
tribes, both English and Continental, are
THE DESCENDANTS OP MOAB AND AMMON,
and that all the prophecies of the Old Testament
relating to the offspring of those two men apply to
the gipsies, in whose future history the predictions
will have their fulfilment.
Pallas infers from their dialect that their ancient
country was Moultan, and their origin the same as
that of Hindoo merchants, who at the time he
wrote were at Astrakan.
Referring to the origin of the gipsies, Eaphael
Volaterranus says, in the twelfth book of his
Geography, " that this kind of people were derived
THE ORIGIN OF TEE GIPSIES.
from the Uxii, a people of Persia ; " and that Syllax,
who wrote the history of the Emperors of Constanti-
nople, says that they foretold the empire to the
Emperor Michael Traulus,
It is supposed by some that the origin of the
gipsies may be traced to the
JATS, OR YATS, A PASTORAL RACE OF MEN,
who during the ninth and tenth centuries lived at
the base of the Himalaya Mountains in Northern
India, where they kept herds and flocks which they
drove from one part of the country to another,
wherever food could be obtained for them. The Jats
appear to have been very partial to music, and that
their fame as musicians having reached the ear of
the then King of Persia, several of them with
their families were invited by him to go to that
country, and conditionally that they taught the
subjects of the king the use of musical instruments,
they were to occupy in their own right a large
portion of land, which they were to cultivate for their
own support.
The offer was accepted by the Jats, who forthwith
left India to locate, as described, in a certain part of
Persia, All went on for a long period agreeably to
the wishes and objects of the Persian monarch. In
time, however, the Jats became indifferent, not
only to the cultivation of their land, but to their
duties as teachers of music. They also became lazy,
and acquired habits which were likely to have a
baneful influence over others. The king saw this,
and therefore* by his order, the Jats were sent
22
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
about their business, and, of course, deprived of all
claim to the land and the homes they had previously
possessed.
They then commenced a wandering life, going
here and there as circumstances controlled or com-
pelled them, and which their descendants have
continued to do to this day. This is one of the
theories entertained of the origin of the gipsy race.
In a short account of the gipsies written a few
years since we learn that a gentleman was informed
by an intelligent member of the tribe that the gipsy
race sprang from a cross between
THE ARABS AND THE JEWS
that left Egypt in the train of the Jews, see Exodus
xii. 38 : "A mixed multitude went up also with
them ; " and Hengstengberg, in his work on the
Pentateuch, states that he supposes the "mixed
multitudes " were an inferior order of workmen
employed like the Jews as slaves in building the
Pyramids and Treasure cities in Egypt. This " mixed
multitude " could have nothing in common with the
Jews but their desire to escape from the slavery of
Egypt. The Jews had their mission to go to the
northward, and subdue the fierce tribes of Palestine ;
the "mixed multitude" must have separated from
them, and as Simpson supposes that they could not
go north-east, for there lay the powerful empire of
Assyria, on the south the sea presented an im-
passable barrier, and " their only alternative was
to proceed east, through Arabia, Petra, along the
Gulf of Persia, through the Persian desert into
THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES.
23
Northern Hindostan, where they formed the gipsy
caste, and whence they issued, after the lapse of
many centuries, in possession of the language of
Hindostan, and thence spread themselves over the
earth.
** After their separation from the Jews, this mixed
multitude, without resources, would find it necessary
to their existence to appropriate or Bteal anything
that was required by them to eat or wear; being
an inferior order of slaves, they would have few,
if any religious opinions, nor would their moral
feelings be any bar to their possessing themselves
of what seemed needful to their well-being. While
in Egypt the strong prejudice of caste would be felt
and understood by them, and on reaching Hindostan
they would find the same feelings prevail every-
where, their peculiar language and habits would
keep them together, and they would have no alter-
native but to remain aloof from the other in-
habitants."
Although many arguments may be adduced in
favour of the theories we have already referred to>
we think it necessary to look to some other quarter
for something more likely to solve the question.
Cloudy as the gipsies 1 origin may be, and with but
little else to guide us but analogy, those who try to
trace them to
THE SUDRAS AND PARIAHS OF HINDOSTAN
have, we believe, the strongest argument to support
their theory.
It is Bomewhat remarkable that, scattered as the
24 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
gipsies are over the world, and speaking the language
of the country through which they wander, they
retain a dialect of their own, common to the Gitanos
of Spain, the Zingari of Italy, the Bohemians of
France, the gipsies of England and those of the
north. Grellman, in his "Dissertations on the
Gipsies/' says : " Twelve out of every thirty words
of their language are either pure Hindostanee, or
bear a striking resemblance to it."
Borrow states that " the language of the gipsies,
formerly supposed to be the gibberish of thieves and
pickpockets, is really Hindostanee." In the tents of
these wanderers are spoken the dialect of the Vedas,
Puranas, Brachmans and Budahs. This, in different
tribes, is in some degree dashed with words of
Sclavonic, Persic, Wogul, Finnic and Hungarian.
The structure of the auxiliary verb is the same as
others in the Indo-Pelasgic tongue, but the pronouns
have a remarkable analogy with the Persic, and the
declension of nouus with the Turkish.
If an explorer were to meet with a race of men
in the interior of Africa, or elsewhere, of whose
language he probably would be totally ignorant, but
which he might ascertain contained a few English
words, he would naturally conclude that the race of
men referred to must, at some time and in some way
or other, either have been thrown in contact with
one or more Englishmen, or that a member of their
own tribe had visited this country, where he had
learned some words of our language, and afterwards
introduced them amongst his own race.
Reasoning by analogy, and taking for granted
that the statement made by Grellman respecting the
THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES.
25
affinity of many words of the dialect of the gipsies,
as spoken by them in nearly every part of the world,
and of the Hindostanee language is correct, then we
have strong presumptive evidence in favour of the
theory of the Hindoo Sudra, or Pariah, origin of the
gipsy people*
Many persons who have resided in India, and
who are well acquainted with Hindostanee, have
been, when speaking in that language to English
gipsies, much surprised that it was so readily under-
stood by them, and equally so on finding that many
words of the gipsy dialect, as used by the gipsies,
were almost identical with Hindostanee.
The late Rev. James Crabb states in his " Gipsies*
Advocate" that Lord Teignmouth once said to a
young gipsy woman in Hindostanee, "Tue hurra
tschur" that is, u Thou art a great thief* 9 She
immediately replied, iC No, I'm not a thief ; I live by
fortune-telling,"
The following list of words not only shows the
similarity between Hindostanee and the gipsy dialect,
but is, we think, corroborative of the statements
we have just made, and for which we are indebted
to a gentleman long resident in India.
His&offT Aires. Gipsy* English.
Hatch, Ratti, Night.
Kuppft, Rup, Silver.
Awk, Aok, The eye.
K&wn, Kan, The ear,
Bal, Bal, The hair.
Techik, Sik, The taste.
Ma, Mui, The mouth.
Gorra, Grea, Horse,
urr, Keir, House.
26 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY,
frmvrm A 1TT\ TT A VT
TENT, AND VAN
Hindostaxee.
Gipsy.
English.
Panioe,
Pawnee.
Brook, Water,
jl oorana,
Pooraben,
Age, old.
NaT66,
Gain,
Woman.
Tlsi
Jjal,
1/61,
Mother.
or cnucna
1V.OKO,
Uncle.
v^noKrie,
xvaKii,
GirL
IN OK,
Nose.
tieeon,
Tongue.
carlo,
Throat
Parow,
Peero,
Foot
TTn otoah n t".
\j >j mil i/|
V UllgUoU,
Finger.
xvukl,
T>_ 11
xiatt,
Blood.
Nfth or Nfih
Km
x>ei,
Shoon.
Finger-nail.
Soon 9
Moon.
x tti c»,
Stari,
Star.
I 111 V*AO V*
jjureau,
Ayu J » v ,
Rivers.
Book,
Tree.
•Luton,
Heat.
JJOOKjQ,
Dooka,
Pain.
Odoi,
Yonder.
XyDOOSQ I5U.KJQ.T,
TTrwwaVi'fn TvVlr
JxUUOillAi LAyA.,
Good luck.
L>nor,
Thief.
V/ 111 XL,
Dirt
Sing or Sring,
oumg,
Horn.
T
Lon,
Lon, \
Salt
r>ootie 9
Bo6ti
Work, Embroidery.
"Vorr
Fire.
Rati a
Soota,
Asleep, to sleep.
Bhookh,
Bok,
Hunger.
Chooma,
Chooma,
Kiss.
Mill,
Mol,
Wine.
Kauzah,
Boozopoor bov,
Garden.
Bhojun,
Haiiben,
Food.
Dust,
Vast,
Hand.
Besha,
Veeh,
Forest
Tschater,
Tschater,
A Tent.
Diwes,
Divvus,
Bay.
Ek,
Iok, Ek,
One.
Du,
Duj,
Two.
Tin,
Trin,
Three.
Tschar,
Schar,
Four.
THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES.
27
HrVDOSTANEE.
Pansch,
Tacbow,
Ilefta,
Ante,
Nau,
Dee,
Bja,
Dada,
Gipsy.
Pauje,
Techowe,
Efta,
Ochto,
Henya,
Desch,
Bisch,
Dad,
English.
Five.
But
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Twenty.
Father.
When we consider that the gipsies during their
wanderings never possessed any grammar, or lexicon,
and that their dialect has heen handed down orally
only, it is marvellous that so many of the above
Hindostanee and gipsy words do not differ more in
orthography than they do, and that, in most cases,
the pronunciation of them is so much alike.
The dialect of the gipsies contains also many
words picked up by this people in their migrations
through the various countries of Continental Europe.
For instance, as spoken by the Gitanos of Spain, it
is mixed with many words of the Spanish language ;
in Italy, with Italian ; in Germany, with German ;
in France, with French ; and that it is in England
mixed with English words may be seen in the
following laconic sentence a gipsy woman, of the
name of Buckland, used to us to intimate that we
must pay for the information she had given us
respecting the gipsy dialect, " I wish," c she said,
" the Rei would chiv his vast adri his putsey and
delmande a shoohora," meaning, M I wish the gentle-
man would put his hand into his pocket and give
me sixpence."
Some years ago we happened to meet, in one of
the crowded thoroughfares of London, a
28 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
GIPSY MAN NAMED LOVELL,
to whom we said in the gipsy dialect, " Cushty sala,"
and " Sah shan ? " (Good morning ; how do you
do ? " which seemed not only to arrest his attention,
but very much to surprise him. He nevertheless
courteously responded by saying, " Cushty sala, my
Rei " (Good morning, my gentleman).
In the course of conversation with this gipsy we
ascertained that he was born in a sand-pit on
Hampstead Heath, and that although he had fre-
quently made excursions into the country during the
summer season, he had lived the greatest part of
his time in London, and had followed the occupation
of a razor, knife, and scissors-grinder. He said he
was then eighty-five years old, and that his wife
was about two or three years younger.
During this interview the old gipsy, being very
infirm, leaned upon his grinding machine, which,
even at his advanced age, he still used to pick up
a living, although it must have been a very pre-
carious one. Just as we turned to resume our
journey the old gipsy pointed to a public house, and
said to us, " Will you delmande a ticknee levinar
in this keir, my Rei ? " (Will you give me a glass
of beer in this house, my gentleman ?) We gave
him a few coppers, for which he seemed to be very
thankful, and said in the politest way imaginable,
" Parakor tut " (Thank you).
Putting the coin in his pocket, and then laying
his hands on his grinding machine, he was about to
move on, when it occurred to us that this was a
THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES.
29
favourable opportunity of finding out whether he,
as a London gipsy, had any acquaintance with the
dialect of his people beyond a few words or short
sentences. For this purpose we resolved to repeat
to him Borne verses having reference to an objection-
able practice, of which gipsies, both on the Continent
and in England, are sometimes guilty. So asking
him to remain a moment or two, we began —
Te mande shoon ye Romany chals,
Who been in the pus about the yag ;
111 pen how we drab the baulo ;
111 pen how we drab the baulo.
Colico, colico, saulo we,
ApopH to the farming ker ;
We'll well and niang him nmllo ;
We'll well and mang hia truppo*
And bo we Kairs and so we Kaixs
The baulo in the rardey mors ;
We'll mang him on the Saulo
And rig to the tan the baulo.
And then hifl trnppo well we'll batch
Kin levinar at the kitchema ;
And have a kosko habben
A kosko Romany habben/'
During the recital of the above lines, which form
part of a gipsy song entitled "The Poisoned
Porker/* a frown gathered over old Lovell's face,
which indicated that he quite understood the
practice we had referred to, as he rather unwillingly
admitted it was not only true, but a disgrace to the
people to whom he belonged.
Another reason why we may believe that gipsies
are of Sudra or Pariah origin is,
30 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
THEIR RESEMBLANCE TO EACH OTHER IN CHOICE OP
FOOD.
Sudras eat many things that are prohibited by the
religion of the Hindoos.
English gipsies have been known, when pressed
with hunger, especially in severe weather, to eat
animals that have died of disease, and others that
have never been offered for sale in our markets, and
which civilized people would refuse with disgust.
It does not follow, however, that all those animals
rejected by them, but accepted by the gipsies as
articles of food, are not fit for human consumption,
or that they do not possess considerable sustaining
properties. Gipsies are fond of snails, and very
partial to hedgehogs; which they do not always
resort to through sheer necessity, but from choice.
Some of the more wealthy gipsy families are not
only now more particular than formerly in their
selection of food, but indulge in dainty and delicate
fare, and will often pay exorbitant prices for fruit
and other things when in season.
THE PURSUITS AND WANDERING LIFE OF GIPSIES
identify them with those of the Sudras of India.
The latter, it is well known, are very partial to
horses. English gipsies deal extensively in them,
and thoroughly understand the difference between
* a sound cob, and a reedy garron." Many of them
not only know how to manage horses, but possess
the faculty of taming the most vicious of these
THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES.
31
animals. If gipsies have stolen horses, they do not
alone deserve this accusation. All horsestealers are
not gipsies, neither are all gipsies horsestealers.
Sudras practice tinkering. Their forge, shop,
tongs, hammers, files, and other tools their owners
take with them, but they stop in those places only
where employment can be obtained,
Gipsy tinkers everywhere abound. Indeed so
called gipsy kings and chiefs have not disdained to
follow the vocation of grinding scissors, knives, razors,
and mending kettles, for which purpose they, and
other members of the gipsy tribes, carry with them
suitable tools, as well as those necessary for making
clothes-pegs, repairing chairs, and for making mats,
brooms, baskets, and brushes of various kinds.
Sudras dwell in huts and tents, and having no
settled residence carry with them, wherever they go,
not only their working appliances, but any other
property that may belong to them.
When gipsies travel, all they possess is taken
with them, which in addition to the tools before
mentioned, consists in many cases only of a few
donkeys, old blankets, tent sticks, canvas, and
cooking utensils. Some of the latter they utilize for
many and widely different purposes ; potatoes are
often cooked in the tea-kettle, and snails stewed in
the ooffee-pot.
THE RELIGIOUS NOTIONS OF SC7DRAS AND GIPSIES
being, in many respects, so strikingly similar, afford
another proof of the identity of the origin of the
above wandering tribes. The Sudras are regarded
32 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
as unworthy of notice, having neither faith nor law ;
and a Brahmin would consider himself contaminated
if the shadow of one of these men should fall upon
him. The Brahmins assert that the Sudras issued
from the feet of Bramah, while they themselves
sprang from his head. They also believe that India
was specially given to them by God, and think it too
sacred to be shared with the outcasts of that country.
These notions have produced in the Sudras their
natural results — aversion to the Brahmins, and
indifference to the duties and ceremonies of the
Hindoo religion.
In these particulars the Sudras have counterparts
in the gipsies of England, who are alike indifferent
to the Christian religion and the customs of
civilized life. We find another proof of the correct-
ness of our theory in the fact that
GIPSIES RESEMBLE THE HINDOOS IN PERSONAL
FEATURES.
Although the latter are much darker in complexion
than English gipsies, this dissimilarity is attributable, •
in a great measure, to a difference in climate. In
support of this we learn that, " when gipsies made
their first appearance in Europe they were nearly
black, and that the women were darker than the
men." That gipsies living in northern latitudes are
of lighter complexion than those living in southern
latitudes is, we think, beyond dispute. The com-
plexions of those few gipsies who, in our country,
have become domesticated differ little from our own,
although they retain those features and physical
THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSIES.
conformation of face by which their race may be
everywhere distinguished.
Some years since, when in the neighbourhood of
Uxbridge, we met two gipsy women who presented
the characteristics of the purest remnant of the
gipsy people, and who were in all respects alike,
save in complexion. The face of one of them was
comparatively fair ; that of the other was of a deep
nutrbrown colour, common, we believe, among the
natives of Andalusia and those of other sunny
climes. Both, however, had the same pearly lustre
in their dark eyes, their hair was black and glossy,
the noses of both inclined to the aquiline type, and
the cheek bones of both were somewhat prominent.
After a little conversation with these women we
discovered that the difference in their complexion
was the result of widely different habits of life.
The gipsy with the fair face, after considerable
reluctance, admitted that she had married a wood-
man, a young man of our own race, with whom she
had resided in a small cottage in the village of
Denham for three years. The other woman with
the brown-tanned face was then leading, as she had
always done, the wandering life of the people to
which she belonged.
There can be no doubt that the exposure of
gipsies to alternations of cold and heat — to incle-
ment weather, to the scorching summer sun, to
parching winds, and above all to the smoke of their
wood fires — contributes very materially to make their
skins much darker than they would be if, like our-
selves, they lived in houses and not in tents.
The fact that gipsies differ in complexion from the
34
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Sudras is no argument against the theory of their
Sudra extraction. The Jews living in the cold
north, in the warm south, in the genial west, and in
the distant east, though differing in complexion one
from the other, may be known by a peculiar cast or
form of features. Although in the north they are
fairer than are their brethren living in the south,
and those in Arabia whose faces are nearly olive
coloured, yet we are taught to believe that the
Jews, wherever they live, originally came from the
same progenitors.
Diversity in complexions no doubt arises from a
difference in climate, geographical position, and
probably in a great measure from dissimilar habits,
customs, and mode of life.
In our conversations with gipsies we have some*
times referred to the difference existing between
their complexions and those of people who live in
houses and lead a settled life, and we have inferred
from their remarks on this subject that they are
proud of this distinctive feature of their race, and
that they often have recourse to artificial means in
order to retain it.
In proof of this we mention on good authority
that many gipsy mothers are in the habit, when
their babbies are only a few weeks or months old, of
rubbing their little bodies all over with a dark liquid
made by boiling together the roots of a certain wild
plant, and young walnuts, or the leaves of the
walnut tree. The children are then laid either in
the warm sunshine, or near their camp fires, where
they have to remain until the liquid is dried into
their bodies ; and this the mothers do for the
THE oniGIN OF THE GIPSIES,
35
purpose, as they say, of ** enhancing the dark beauty
of their offspring."
Referring again to the notions some of the gipsies
entertain of the origin of their predecessors, we may
notice that as they have neither books nor records
to guide them in this matter, and only two or three
vague traditions which refer to their past history, no
authentic information can be obtained from the
gipsies themselves to settle the important question
at issue.
Sylvester Bagwell, an exceedingly intelligent
gipsy man, with whom we have had several inter-
views, told us that the gipsies have a tradition
amongst them to the effect that they are "the
descendants of the * Shepherd Kings/ who, in the
year of the world 1900, made a raid upon Egypt,
took and retained possession of the country during
many years, but were at length overpowered and
compelled to give up possession/'
**He was not, however," he said, M disposed to
deny that their forefathers lived in India 400 or 500
years ago." He believed they did*
But there is not, so far as we are aware, any well
authenticated historical evidence or proofs to justify
a belief in all the above assertions of the gipsy
referred to ; and the traditions of this people al-
together fail in supplying the defect.
D 2
Q1PST DEAFKR, UHIiBJCLL/L-MKSDLR.
CHAPTER III.
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF THE GIPSIES.
Why gipsies left their native country — A gipsy tradition-
First appearance in Europe — Gipsies in France and Spain,
and how treated — Introduction into England— Legal en-
actments—A fearful testimony — False evidence— The young
gipsy and new-born child — The judge, and gipsy condemned
to death— March of gipsies through England to Scotland —
A letter from James IV. ; Johnne Faw, lord and erle — The
Countess of Cassillis — Laws passed against gipsies in
Scotland, &e.
In India's far-famed sunny clime
There lived an outcast race, we're told,
Who fled before the cruel sword
Of mighty Tamerlane of old*
MIOBATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES. 37
They left their country, and their homes,
And shelter sought in other lands ;
But even there the people cried,
" Down with the wretched, thievish hands,"
Stem fate pursues them everywhere,
From Hindostan to England's shore ;
But little sympathy they find ;
No resting spot, the wide world o'er.
Assuming that the Sudras and gipsies were once
identical, under what circumstances did the latter
leave India? According to Brand, whom we may
regard as a reliable authority, it appears that in
1408 or 1409 India was invaded by Tamerlane, a
powerful Mahommedan warrior, with a view to
proselytise the heathen to the religion in which
himself believed, and on which occasion upwards
of 500,000 persons were put to the sword, and
subjected to great brutalities.
Hoy land, in referring to the same invasion, says
that u 100,000 human beings were cruelly put to
death, and very many of those who were not slain
left the country in order to save their lives."
Among them there were, no doubt, many of the
Sudras supposed to be the forefathers of the gipsies
of tins and of other countries, and who were com-
pelled by the tyrannical Tamerlane to seek protection,
homes, and shelter in other lands.
It is conjectured that these fugitives in their
migrations passed, after leaving Iudia, along the
shores of the Persian Gulf, stopped at Bassora,
crossed Arabia, and thence made their way into
Turkey. But there is better reason to suppose
they crossed the Isthmus of Suez, made their
■
38
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
appearance in northern Egypt, and then journeyed
southward to Nubia. Here probably they re-
mained for some time, leading a nomadic life,
and obtaining from the natives additions to their
already acquired practices of legerdemain, fortune-
telling, &c.
According to a tradition extant among the gipsies,
it would appear that the ostensible cause of their
predecessors leaving Egypt for other countries in
continental Europe was " the severe persecutions to
which both Christians and themselves were subjected
by the Moslems, who wished, like Tamerlane, to
subjugate, and then make them converts to their
own faith."
Although we have never seen any account of the
precise route taken by the gipsies after leaving
Egypt for other countries, yet some historians fix
the date of
THEIR FIRST APPEARANCE IN" EUROPE
in the early part of the fifteenth century. They
were observed in Germany in the year 1414; in
Switzerland in 1418; in Italy in 1422; in Spain
and in Paris about 1427.
Mr. Ward informs us that "when they first
appeared in Germany they represented themselves
as Egyptians, doing penance for having refused
hospitality to the Virgin and Son." It was on this
account that the Emperor of Germany, the King of
Poland, and other Christian princes when they
heard this fell upon them, and obliged them all
both great and small to quit their country and go
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES, 39
to the Pope of Rome, who enjoined them seven years'
penance to wander over the world without lying in
a bed; every bishop and abbot to give them ten
Hvres tournois, and he gave them letters to this
purpose and his blessing.
So much were the gipsies hated in Germany that
by some they were not looked upon as human
beings, but as mere secondary, or inferior forms of
animal life, who might be severely dealt with,
punished on the slightest pretext, imprisoned, or
even put to death in order to get rid of a number
of pests the world would be better without, "It
is," says one writer, " a matter of authentic record
that one of the petty sovereigns in Germany, when
out hunting one day, set his hounds to run down a
gipsy whom he found in a wood nursing a baby/'
After wandering about for five years
THE GIPSIES APPEARED IN FRANCE AND SPAIN.
Pasquier, in his * Recherches de la Frame" says,
in referring to this people, that " On August 17th,
1427, came to Paris twelve penitents, aa they called
themselves, viz,, a duke, an earl, and ten men, all
on horseback, and calling themselves good Christians.
They were of lower Egypt, and gave out that not
long before the Christians had subdued their country,
and obliged them to embrace Christianity, or put
them to death ; those who were baptized were great
lords in their own country, and had a King and
Queen there. Some time after their conversion the
Saracens overrun their country and obliged them
to renounce Christianity,"
40 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
It is stated by another authority that the men
above mentioned by Pasquier brought with them
120 persons, who took up their quarters in La
Chapelle, whither the people flocked in crowds to
see them. They had their ears pierced, from which
depended a ring of silver ; their hair was black and
crispy, and their women were extremely filthy, and
were sorceresses who told fortunes. " By the super-
stitious multitude they were, as a rule, regarded as
wizards, and by the magistrates more as vagabonds
and thieves ; so that for a very long period the gipsy
population was kept under in a most practically
Malthusian manner by the aid of the stake and the
halter." Prior to 1789 the Lieutenant Criminel of
France was perpetually harrying the Bohemians, but
since the Great Revolution they have been left alone,
and now have all the rights of French citizens.
In Spain repeated edicts were passed under the
severest penalties to exterminate these wandering
tribes, and that land, for two hundred years, was little
less than a terrestrial Inferno for the Gitanos, groups
of whom might often be seen doomed to be burnt,
whipped or branded. The Spaniards of that time
accused them of driving with the Moors a nefarious
traffic in Christian children ; in Turkey some people
believed them to be devourers of human flesh, and in
every country imputations of the foulest kind have
been made against them with a view of annihilating
the hated race, but to no purpose. The gipsies,
44 More outcast and despised than
Moor or Jew,"
" throve and multiplied exceedingly, each generation
inheriting from its predecessor a more irreconcilable
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES. 41
aversion to settled life, and a deeper hatred of the
communities which they infested and which spurned
them."
Although in France an edict was passed about
1560 for their expulsion, and all governors of cities
ordered to drive them away with fire and sword, it is
evident that gipsies made their first appearance in
this country at a much earlier period. The precise
date and manner of
THE INTRODUCTION OF GIPSIES INTO ENGLAND
are as prohlematical as their origin. We, however,
infer from an old work, written by S. Rid, and
published in 1612 — 'To Expose the art of Juggling
and Legerdemain/ that the gipsies have been in
England very nearly four centuries.
In referring to this race, the author just mentioned
says : " This kind of people, about a hundred years
ago, beganne to gather an head, at the first heere,
about the southerne parts. And this, as I am in-
formed, and can gather, was their beginning :
Certain Egyptians, banished their country (belike
not for their good conditions), arrived heere in
England, who, for quaint tricks and devices not
known beere at that time among us, were esteemed
and had in great admiration ; insomuch that many of
our English Loyterers joined with them, and in time
learned their craftie cozening. The speach which
they used was the right Egyptian speach, with
whom our Englishmen conversing at last learned
their language. These people continuing about the
country, and practising their cozening art, purchased
42
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
themselves great credit among the country people,
and got much by palmistry and telling fortunes;
insomuch they pitifully cozened poor country girls,
both of money, silver spoons, and the best of their
apparelle, or any good they could make. They had
a leader of the name of Giles Hather, who was
termed their King ; and a woman named Calot was
called Queen. These riding through the streets on
horseback, and in strange attire, had a pretty traine
after them."
Although the above quaint and concise description
refers to the existence of gipsies, and the practices
they carried on in England as early as 15 12, it
throws no light whatever upon the primary, or
actuating cause of their introduction into Britain.
We have, however, inferred from various brief
sketches given in different publications on the
migrations of gipsies, that some speculating adven-
turers in London, having heard of the success of
gipsies in the art of legerdemain and sleight-of-hand
tricks in France and other countries, went over there
in search of the most proficient in these arts, and
that having succeeded in their search several were
induced to come to London, and subsequently, after
arrangements were completed, to perform before the
public. So long as these performances continued a
novelty the speculation was successful. But when
they ceased to be so, and the excitement was over,
and money did not flow into the coffers of these gipsy
importers as at first, the performers were sent adrift,
and as a natural result, with their strong and
intuitive love of and preference for freedom, resumed
their old wandering habits.
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES. 43
Soon after the above had taken place other gipsy
immigrants made their appearance in England, where,
as on the Continent, they adopted a nomadic life.
As they were allowed to wander hither and thither,
and to pitch their tents almost wherever they pleased
without molestation, and finding that this country
was in all respects a favourable one to their mode of
life, and one in which they could successfully ply
their vocations without fear of severe punishment,
they had every inducement to send this information
to their persecuted kindred still living across the
Channel, and very tempting reasons for inviting
them over- That they did so seems evident from the
fact that from the year 1512 to 1530 there was so
great an influx of gipsies into England that they
became, not only a prominent, but a formidable
feature in the country, and numbered at the latter
date about ten thousand, But the means they
adopted to obtain a living so arrested the attention
of local authorities, and finally that of the Govern-
ment, that laws had to be passed to repress them.
Scarcely less severe than the measures adopted on the
Continent to punish these wandering tribes were the
LEGAL ENACTMENTS PASSED AGAINST ENGLISH GIPSIES
in the time of Henry VIII,, which described them to
be ( *an outlandish people, calling themselves Egyp-
tians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise, who
have come into this realm, and gone from shire to
shire and place to place in great company, and used
great subtle and crafty means to deceive the people,
Ac, Wherefore they are directed to avoid the realm,
44
OUR QIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and not to return under pain of imprisonment, and
forfeiture of their goods and chattels, and upon their
trials for any felonies which they have committed'
they shall not be entitled to a jury de medietate
linguce"
It was soon afterwards enacted by statutes 1 and
2 Philip and Mary and 5th Elizabeth, 44 that if any
such person be imported into this kingdom, the
importer shall forfeit £40 ; and if the Egyptians
themselves remain one month in this kingdom, or if
any person being fourteen years old (whether natural
born subject, or stranger), who had been seen in the
fellowship of such persons, or had disguised himself
like them, should remain with them one month at
once, or at several times, it should be felony without
benefit of the clergy."
Such were some of the laws in operation against
the gipsies until a few years before the Restoration,
when, 44 At one Suffolk Assize," Judge Hale re-
marks, 44 no less than thirteen gipsies were executed
upon these Statutes."
In testimony to the frightful effects of these penal
enactments, George Borrow states that, 44 Three
hundred years ago the gibbets of England groaned
and creaked beneath the weight of gipsy carcases,
and that many of these miserable creatures were
obliged to creep into the earth to preserve their
lives." Happily, however, the above statutes were
repealed by George III., and gipsies are now punish-
able only as vagrants under the Vagrant Act.
It can hardly be said that the abrogation of the
laws referred to has lessened public antipathy against
the gipsy race, as the spirit and object of these laws
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES, 45
are seen, and in a measure carried out, in the treat-
ment gipsies often receive from those not of their
own race. It has been known that men without any
regard either to truth or justice have given false
evidence against gipsies in order to obtain the
rewards at one time offered on the conviction of
those of them who were accused of crime. In proof
of this, we state on the authority of the late Rev. J.
Crabb, that some years since one of these vile in-
formers swore to having seen a gipsy man on a horse
that had been stolen ; and although it came out on
the trial that it was night when he observed him, and
that he had never seen him before, which ought to
have rendered his evidence invalid, the prisoner was
convicted and condemned to die. His life was
afterwards spared by other facts having been dis-
covered and made known to the judge after he had
left the city.
The power with which the Vagrant Act has
invested officers of the law has sometimes been
used at the cost of much suffering on the part of
gipsies of modern times. A police constable can
now force them, wherever tented (unless it be on
private property and by permission of the owner),
at any time to "move on"
We have been credibly informed that a gipsy
woman, who had during the day given birth to a
child in a lane in Gloucestershire, was, with the rest
of her family, peremptorily ordered by an incon-
siderate policeman, as late as eleven o*clock on a
damp, cold night, to "pack up and be off/' These
poor creatures, being fearful of the consequences of
refusing to obey the order, packed up their things
46 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and wandered on until they found a place they
knew was beyond the limit of his beat. It is,
however, right to state that the authorities severely
reprimanded the officer for his hasty and inhuman
conduct.
When evidence has failed to criminate those of
the gipsies who have been charged with crime, they
have often been punished only for tenting in our
lanes and other places. According to a Manchester
newspaper of 1864, seven gipsies at Hale were
committed for twenty-one days' imprisonment in the
county gaol, with hard labour, for sleeping under
tents.
There was a time when gipsies, more than now,
were not only punished for violating our laws, but
sometimes the penalty was all the heavier simply
because they were gipsies; in proof of which we
quote the following painful example from the
* Gipsies' Advocate,' which states :
In March, 1827, during the Lent Assizes, the
author was in Winchester, and wishing to speak
with the sheriffs chaplain, he went to the Court for
that purpose. He happened to enter just as the
judge was passing sentence of death on two unhappy
men. To one he held out the hope of mercy ; but
to the other, a poor gipsy, who was convicted for
horse-stealing, he said no hope could be given. The
young man — for he was but a youth — immediately
fell on his knees, and with uplifted hands and eyes,
apparently unconscious of any persons being present
but the judge and himself, addressed him as follows :
" OA, my lord, save my life!" The judge replied,
" No ; you can have no mercy in this tcorld. 1 and
■
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES. 47
my brother judges have come to the determination to
execute horsestealers^ especially gipsies, because of the
increase of the crime" The suppliant, still on his
knees, entreated, M Do, my lord, save my life I Do,
for God's sake, for my wifes sake, for my babys
sake I m " No" replied the judge, * I cannot ; you
should have thought of your wife and children before?
He then ordered him to be taken away, and the
poor fellow was rudely dragged from his earthly
judge.
While admitting that our laws, designedly made
for the good government, safety, and protection of
the State, should be obeyed, and that those who
break them deserve punishment, be they gipsies or
those of our own race, we can recognise no right on
the part of either law or judge to make a man's
punishment more severe because of any physical
peculiarities, or on account of any divergencies in
his mode of life and habits from those adopted by
the community at large. We are therefore com-
pelled to say, that while the gipsies are amongst us,
and amenable to our laws, they have as great a
right to the exercise of justice and mercy towards
them as have the highest born and most refined in
our land.
Robert Southey's beautiful lines on "All Men
Brethren * are singularly appropriate to the remarks
we have just made, especially the following short
quotation :
* 4 Children we are all
Of one great Father, in whatever clime
His providence hath cast the aeed of life,
All tongues, all colours : * * * *
He the impartial judge of all, regards
48
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Nations, and hues, and dialects alike.
According to their works shall they be judged,
When even handed justice in the scale
Their good and evil weighs."
Impelled by a predilection in favour of a wander-
ing life, as well as by love of unrestrained freedom
and of adventure, we find that some years after
their introduction into England
SCOTLAND WAS VISITED BY THE GIPSIES.
In referring to ' Hogg's Instructor,* vol. iv.,
new series, page 183, we find an intimation that
gipsies appeared in England and Scotland at an
earlier period than the date assumed by us on the
authority of S. Rid already referred to. We read
in the above volume that " The era of their (gipsies)
arrival in this country is marked by a singular
document still preserved. It is a letter from
James IV. to his uncle the King of Denmark, in
favour of Anthony Gawine, earl of little Egypt, and
his followers. This letter is dated 1506, not many
years, it maybe presumed, after the first colonies had
found their way from France through England.
" His Majesty states that this miserable train had
visited Scotland, by command of the Pope, being
upon a pilgrimage ; that they had conducted them-
selves properly, and that they now wished to go
to Denmark. He accordingly solicits his uncle's
protection and kindness in their favour, adding that
as they are wandering Egyptians, they must be
better known to his Danish Majesty than to himself,
as the kingdom of Egypt was nearer to him ! A
MIGRATIONS AND 2>EItSECUTI0NS OF GIPSIES. 49
statement which shows that James IV. was not the
most accurate in Iris notions of geography.
4f Whether the 1 miserable train/ under Anthony
G a wine were all who had reached Scotland at this
time is not known, although we may presume so
from the terms of the document. They seem,
however, to have been followed, not many years
subsequently, by another and more numerous party.
u This appears from a letter under the privy seal,
by King James V 4 , iij favour of * Johimc Faw, lord
and erle of little Egypt,* dated Feb, 15, 1540.
This curious document throws considerable light on
the pretensions — for they were probably no more
than mere pretensions — of the gipsies on their first
coming to Scotland. Still maintaining the assump-
tion that they were pilgrims, * Johnne Faw, lord and
erle of little Egypt,' complains to his majesty that
notwithstanding the letters he had previously ob-
tained under the great seal, to assist him *in
executioune of justice vpoun his cumpany and folkis,
conforme to the lawis of Egypt, and in punissing of
all thai in that rebellis again s him,' part of his clan
* under Sebastiane Lalow, Egiptiane,' had altogether
removed themselves from his company, taking with
him * diverse soumes of money, jewellis, clathis, and
ntheris gudis, to the quantite of ane grete soume of
money,* and refused to pass home with him again to
their own country, although Sebastiane Lalow had
given his bond to that effect, and he (John Faw)
was * binding and oblist to bring bame with him all
thame of his company that ar on live, and ane
testimoniale of thame that ar dcid. 1
"The letter of the king therefore directed all
1
50 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
sheriffs and magistrates to assist the said 'Johnne
Faw, lord and erle of little Egypt/ in compelling the
refractory party to join his company, notwithstand-
ing that Sebastiane Lalow, had, by ' fals relation and
circumventioun,' purchased writings some time before
from his majesty, discharging him and his abettors
from Faw's company. Faw represented that he had
remained a long time in this country, waiting on the
refractory members of his company, and that he
incurred the risk of * hevy dampnage and skaithe,'
and 'tynsall of his heritage.' The same letter
charged all authorities not to molest, vex, or trouble
the said John Faw and his company in doing their
lawful business.
"The following year (June 6, 1541) there is an
Act of the Lords of Council, referring to the dispute
between Faw and his rebellious subjects, which
dispute had occasioned considerable disturbance,
others taking part in the quarrel who had no
connection with the clan. By this document it
appears that the contending factions had mutually
agreed 'to passe hame, and to have the samyn
(the quarrel) decydit before the duke of Egipt/
From the terms of the Act it is evident that the lord
and erle of little Egypt had greatly fallen in the
estimation of the council, and that they were glad at
the prospect of getting quit of him and his company.
"That these representations were falsehoods, in-
vented to interest the crowned heads of the countries
in which they sojourned, can scarcely be doubted.
Indeed, it does not appear that Faw and his
company ever left Scotland. In 1554, 4 Andro Faw
captiane of the Egiptianes,' and twelve of his gang,
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES. 51
obtained a remission for the 4 Slauchter of Niniane
Smaill, comittit within the toune of Lyntoune, in
the month of March last hypast, vpoun suddantie/
This ' Andro Faw * was in all likelihood the son and
successor of the lord and erle of little Egypt ; and
the Faws have ever since been considered the heads
of the gipsy tribes of Scotland . It was 1 Johnie
Faa,' and his 1 fifteen weel-made men/ who accord-
ing to the ballad, carried away the countess of
Cassillis : —
** 1 come with me,* eaye Johnie Faa ;
1 come with me, my dearie ;
For I tow and I swear by the hilt of my sword,
That your lord shall nae mair oomc near ye/
No proper data has yet been discovered for fixing
the precise era of the ballad of * Johnie Faa/ there-
fore the hero of it cannot be identified with any of
the chiefs or captains of the Fans whose names have
been recorded."
It is evident from what has been stated above that
the gipsies had fallen into great disfavour with the
Government of Scotland, who, on account of their
lawless conduct, was compelled to pass an Act for the
banishment of the whole race at thirty days 1 warn-
ing, and under the pain of death. Instead* however,
of leaving the country, the gipsies sought refuge
among its mountains, in its glens, fastnesses, and
remoter districts. Their numbers increased, and as
time rolled on, the)' became so daring and defiant
that at length neither life nor property was safe*
Aided by bands of beggars, who were led on by
the gipsies, the poor and the rich were alike
plundered by them, and in a few years they became
B 2
52
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
such a terror in nearly every part of Scotland, that
in 1603, and confirmed again in 1609, the lords of
the Privy Council issued a proclamation for the
expatriation of the whole race from Scotland for
ever, under the severest penalties.
This law commanded the "vagabonds, sorcerers,
and commonly called Egyptians, to pass forth out of
the realm, and never to return to the same under
pain of death." The same law empowered any of
his majesty's subjects to apprehend and execute
them " as notorious and condemned thieves." " In
1611, four Faws were hanged as Egyptians; in July
1616, two persons of the name of Faw, and another
called Bail lie, met the same fate ; so did John Faw
and seven of his gang (five of whom were Faas), in
January, 1624. A few days afterwards Helen Faa,
relict of the Captain Lucretia Faw, and other women,
to the number of eleven, were convicted as Egyptians,
and condemned to be drowned."
In Woodcock's * Gipsies, History, Customs, &c.,'
it is stated that " in 1636 an Act was issued, empower-
ing the Sheriff of Haddington to pronounce sentence
of death against as many of the gipsies as were men,
and against as many of the women as had no
children. The men were to be hanged and the
women drowned, and such of the women as had
children were to be scourged and burnt on the
cheek."
The severity of these laws not only failed to ex-
tirpate the gipsies, but induced some of the landed
gentry to extend to them all the protection in their
power. For example, in 1615, William Auchterlony,
of Cayrnie, obtained a remission for resetting of John
MIGRATIONS AND PERSECUTIONS OF GIPSIES. 53
Faw and his followers* From the da tea we have
given to the present time Scotland has always had
its gipsies, the principal families of whom, including
the Faas, are settled in Yetholm*
The preservation of the gipsies as a distinct race,
and living so in nearly all the countries in the
world, is a marvellous phenomenon. Kings have
been deposed, and their thrones have tumbled down;
empires have been convulsed; social, political, and
religious revolutions have shaken the world to its
centre ; wars have devastated the fairest regions of
the earth ; sanguinary laws, as we have shown, have
been enacted against the gipsies, who have been
imprisoned, transported, branded, burnt, and hanged,
many at a time ; but in spite of all these things,
and the thousands of persecutions and prosecutions
to which they have been subjected, still live the
same wandering race, retaining, aa clearly and pro-
minently as of old, their distinctive character, not
only in their physical conformation, but in their
language, dress, habits, manners and customs. Truly
it may be said that the gipsies, though
* Mixed with every race, arc lost in none/*
CHAPTER IV.
DIALECT OF Til E GIPSIES.
Sylveator Boswell, a learned gipsy— His explanations of the
gipsy language — Smart and Crof ton's gipsy vocabulary —
English and gipsy words denoting human relationship —
Parte of human and animal bodies — Wearing apparel —
Furniture, food and drink - ISuil. lings of various kinds —
Quadrupeds, birds, and insects— Titles of office and employ*
ment— Money — The works of nature — The seasons, division
of time— Words used by the Scottish gipsies — Paragraph
specimens of the gipsy dialect — Popular gipsy proverbs- —
The Lord's prayer in the gipsy dialect.
M They have been at a great feast of language*.
And stolen the scraps.*'
feliAKESPEAflfc
Having stated in a previous chapter that the ex-
istence of so many Hindostanee words in the gipsy
DIALECT OF THE 01 PS J ICS.
55
dialect is presumptive evidence in favour of the
eastern origin of the gipsies, and having also inti-
mated that the use of this dialect by them throughout
the world affords strong proof that the gipsies are as
distiuct a confederation and race as are those of the
different nations among whom they live, we need
not be surprised that this people have a language of
their own, which is used by them when and wherever
they happen to meet.
This dialect may be regarded as the link or chain
which, in a great measure, binds them together in
mutual interest, sympathy, and the bond of brother-
hood, and it is also certain that without it the
gipsies would soon become more isolated than they
now are, and so fragmentary that their means of
identifying each other as members of the same part
of the great human family would be very considerably
lessened*
This dialect, as spoken by them everywhere, is no
doubt one of the great conserving powers which
keeps tbem together as a race.
Considering that the gipsies in England and of
other countries have had their own dialect for so
long a period, it is surprising that philologists have
not directed their attention to it more than they
have done, which neglect has not unlikely arisen
from an idea very prevalent, that it was only mere
gibberish or jargon, and therefore not worthy either
of their time or study.
As the dialect of the gipsies naturally suggests
itself as being the next point of interest to that of
their migrations, and the persecutions already
mentioned, we shall give in this chapter several
56
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
specimens of it, with their meanings in English.
Many of these will be words and sentences gleaned
by us at different times in our interviews with some
of the most intelligent English gipsies. We must,
however, acknowledge our indebtedness to a work
entitled * The Dialect of the English Gipsies,' written
by Smart and Crofton, who have evidently bestowed
great pains in collecting and throwing together in so
intelligible a form such a mass of interesting and
useful information on this difficult subject.
It is manifest from the introduction to the above
work that the authors just mentioned obtained
much information respecting the gipsy dialect from
Sylvester Boswell, a gipsy well known to us, and
with whom we have had many interesting conversa-
tions. As we are able to corroborate much, if not
all, they say about this gipsy man, we shall now
give a quotation from the work of the authors re-
ferred to.
" We have met with no gipsy anywhere who can
be compared with our friend Sylvester Boswell for
purity of speech and idiomatic style. No 4 posh and
posh mumper ' is he, but a genuine specimen of a
fine old * Romani Chal ' — a regular blue-blooded
hidalgo — his father a Boswell, his mother a Heme,
his pedigree unstained by base 'gaujo' admixture.
We have been specially indebted to him both for
his willingness to impart information, and for the
intelligence which has enabled him satisfactorily to
elucidate several doubtful points in the language.
We mention his name here with emphasis because
he himself wishes for some public acknowledgment
of his services, and because we have pleasure in
DIALECT OF THE GIPSIES.
57
claiming for him a ' double first ' in classical honours*
as a Romanes scholar of the ( deepest 1 dye,
" Sylvester habitually uses in his conversation what
he calls the * double inflected) words,' and
prides himself on so doing. He declares that he
speaks just like his father and mother did before
him, but that many of the younger folk around him
do not understand him when he uses the old forms
current in his early days* According to him, those
degenerate scions of an ancient stock only speak the
'dead (Le., uninflected) words/ and say, when at a
loss for an expression, 'Go to Wester, he speaks
dictionary/ He affirms that none can use the double
words like some of the Hemes and Boswells ; that
most of the old-fashioned 1 Romani Chals ' are either
dead, or have left England for America or elsewhere ;
but that nevertheless some few remain scattered over
the country, though even they have lost and forgotten
a great deal through constant intercourse with other
gipsies who only speak the broken dialect. To tell
the truth, Wester himself occasionally lapses from
bis lofty pedestal, and we have noticed from his lips
examples of very dog-Romanes, He would, however,
recover himself from these slips, and arrest our
reporting pencil in mid career with 4 Stop, don't put
that down ! * and after thinking for a moment, would
tell us the same thing in 'deep f Romanes, or even
find on further reflection 'in the lowest deep a
deeper still/
(l There are several dialects of the Anglo Romanes ;
Sylvester Boswell recounts six: 1st, that spoken by
the New Forest gipsies, having Hampshire for its
head quarters; 2nd, the South-Eastern, including
58
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Kent and the neighbourhood ; 3rd, the Metropolitan,
that of London and its environs; 4th, the East
Anglican, extending over Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambs,
Lincolnshire, Northampton, and Leicestershire ; 5th,
that spoken in the 4 korlo-tem,' or Black Country,
having Birmingham for its capital ; 6th, the North-
ern. We do not altogether agree with this classifi-
cation, but it is interesting as a gipsy's own, and we
give it for what it is worth.
" In addition there is the Kirk Yetholm, or Scotch
gipsy dialect, which is very corrupt, and anything
but copious. Lastly, there is the Welsh gipsy
dialect, spoken by the Woods, Williamses, Joneses,
&c, but who mix Romani words with * Lavenes/ i.e+
the language of the Principality.
" For practical purposes, the English gipsy tongue
may be conveniently considered as consisting of two
great divisions, viz. : —
" 1st. The common wide-spread corrupt dialect* . . .
containing but few inflections, and mixed to a greater
or less extent with English, and conforming to the
English method in the arrangement of the sentences.
This is the vulgar tongue in every-day use by
ordinary gipsies.
" 2nd. The 4 Deep ' or old dialect, known only to a
few aged gipsies, which contains many inflections
and idioms; which has its own 'ordo verborum;'
which closely resembles the principal Continental
gipsy dialects, . . . and which contains a minimum
admixture of English words. This last ... is par
excellence the gipsy language, of which the first is
merely the corruption. "
Although much more is said on this subject by
DIALECT OF TEE GIPSIES.
59
Smart and Crofton, we will close this long quotation
by adding that, * At all events, it is now a fact that
certain gipsy families speak their own language
better than others ; and words and idiomatic expres-
sions habitually used in one tent may never be heard
in another.**
Without attempting to trace the origin of the
gipsy dialect, or to give our explanation of its con-
struction and derivation, we shall now give, in
English, the names of some objects in nature, and
those of other things familiar to almost everybody,
and commonly used in our domestic, commercial, and
every-day life ; and we shall also give those words of
the gipsy dialect the meanings of which correspond
with our own,
Taking as our authority Smart and Crofton's
11 English-Gipsy Vocabulary," we have endeavoured
to classify different objects in a way we think the
moot likely to be interesting to our readers. As
man is supposed to have pre-eminence in all things,
we shall in the first place refer to the
Names DEtforora Human Relationship.
GipBy.
Man,
Gairo.
Woman,
Gain.
Husband,
Rom.
Wife,
Roinni.
Father,
Dad.
Mother,
Dei.
Son, lad,
Chor.
Daughter,
Choi.
Brother,
PtL
Sister,
Fen.
Aunt,
lieeljoo.
Koko.
60
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
English.
Children,
Boy,
Girl,
Cousin,
Father-in-law,
Mother-in-law,
Gipsy.
Chavi, pi.
Chavo.
Bakli.
Simensa.
Stifo Dad.
Stiff Dei.
Parts of Human and Animal Bodies.
Head,
Sh6ro.
Hair,
Bal.
Eye,
Yok.
Ear,
Kan.
Nose,
Nok.
Month, face,
Mooi.
Cheek,
Cham.
Tongue,
Chib.
Throat,
Karlo.
Teeth,
Danyaw, pi.
Arm,
Mooshi.
Hand,
Vast.
Foot,
Peero.
Log,
Hero.
Knee,
Chong.
Shoulder,
Pik6.
Finger,
Vongusti.
Blood,
Batt.
Bone,
Kokoolus.
Heart,
Zee.
Finger Nail,
Nei.
Wearing Apparel, etc.
Bonnet,
Woman's clothing,
Stockings,
Shoe, boot,
Shirt,
Handkerchief,
Shawl,
Petticoat,
Gown, frock,
Coat,
Joovioko Stardi.
Joovni kolo.
Iloolivas, pi.
Chok, ch6ka.
Gad.
Dfklo.
Bauro Di'klo.
Chuffa.
Shooba.
Chukka.
DIALECT OF TIIE GIPSIES.
61
English.
Gipsy.
Knee breeches,
BrSgies.
Leggings,
Herengries.
Waistcoats,
Bangeri.
Cloth,
Partan.
Apron,
Jarika.
Glove,
Vongshengri.
Ilat,
Slaadi.
Silk,
Eaish.
Wool,
Poosham.
Thread,
Tav.
Leather,
Cham.
Needle,
Soov.
Scissors,
Eatsers.
Furniture, Food, Drink, etc.
Apple,
P6bo.
Bacon,
Balovas.
Barley,
Livina-ghiv.
Basket,
Eepsi.
Bed,
Voodrus.
Beer,
L6vina.
Bellows, •
Peshota.
Blanket,
Eoppa.
Book,
Lil.
Brandy,
Tatto paani.
Bread,
Mauro.
Bread-and-butter,
Kil Mauro.
Brick,
Chlkino-Kova.
Broom, brush,
Yooserin g-Eosht.
Broth,
Zfman.
Cabbage,
Shok.
Cake,
Marekli.
Caldron,
Pee>i Eekary.
Camp,
Tan.
Candle,
Mumbli.
Cap,
Coofa.
Carpet,
Peerestro E6ppa.
Chain,
Wenglo.
Chair
Beshomengro.
Cheese,
Eal.
Cherries,
Lalo Eoovaw.
62
OUR 0IP8IE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
JKngllBn.
Gipsy.
Clock,
Urttf
Uoals,
An gar*
Cyder,
x ODengro.
JJOOr,
urinK,
x la DtJD.
Drag,
uraD.
E gg»
xoro.
£ eatner-Dea,
P6rongo wo6dms.
JC 1TB,
lag, or xog.
JPOOG., 6fttftD10B,
no Den.
Fork
PAanm oti ctta
"Prvi n tr-PAn
•*■ * j xug x «*xi,
Tatter M6nirri
-ft. ca I; UlOUItllt
hi mm a
TCflrft or TC£ri
XvOVLie,
1\.&VV1.
IVIllie,
TjOaT or nrAAfi
Ch61a Mauro.
T/iiflifivr MAtch
JJ UVllvl til CT l^/Al f
T)£l om 6n cto.
1/VlUUIVUKl v»
Meal,
FCoTlft.
"Milt
XlHHl*
U UvVUAU iUoDi
Onion lofvk
PooViimi.
VSlcUlgB,
PAnAtn ti a
x ouoinuo*
Parlour
"RftllTTIfl
.ft-*VUt UlN
S or a fvl
ow&gier*
Potato
x oovengrx.
Razor,
JJXUIUIllUliacl U.
QonV
VVOIIO*
Salt,
XJUv IA«
Shopkeeper,
Bo6degam6ngro.
Soap,
Sapanis.
Spirits,
Tatto paani.
Sugar,
Go6dli.
Table,
Misali.
Tea,
Moot6ngri.
Tobacco,
Tuvlo.
Tripe,
B6kochcsto-pur.
Watch,
Hora.
Watercress,
Paanesto-shok.
Window,
Hov, or Kev.
Wine,
Mol, or Mul.
Wood, Stick,
Kosht.
DIALECT OF THE GIPSIES.
63
Buildings of Various Kinds.
English.
Gipsy.
Asylum,
Dfvio kair.
Church,
Kongri.
Castle,
Kralisko-po6ro-kair
House,
Kair.
Inn,
Kftchema.
Mansion,
Fflisin.
Stable,
Stanya.
Town,
Gav.
Village,
Gav.
Windmill,
Baval p6gamengri.
Quadrupeds, Birds, and Insects.
Ass,
Mcila.
Badger,
Badjaarus.
Bird,
Cheriklo.
Blackbird,
Kaulo ch6riklo.
Boar,
Mooskono baulo.
Bull,
Go6ro.
Cat,
Matchka.
Cock,
B6shno.
Cow,
Gro6vni.
Crab,
Herengro Matcho.
Crow,
Kaulo ch6riklo.
Deer,
Stadni.
Bog,
Jo6kel.
Duck,
Betza.
Fish,
Matcho.
Flea,
Pooshamer pisham.
Flies,
Lfckyaw.
Fly,
Musco.
Foal,
Tarno grei.
Fox,
Vesh-jookel.
Goat,
Lavines-bokro.
Goose,
Papin.
Greyhound,
Kanen gri-j o6kel.
Guinea-Fowl,
Atch-pauli kanni.
Hare,
Kanengro.
Hedgehog,
H6tchi-wftchi.
Hen,
Kanni.
' 64 QUE GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
lijiiglisn
Gipsy.
Herring,
Matcho.
Horse,
Grei.
Lamb,
rlokocno.
Louse,
Jo6va.
Mouse,
Mouseus.
Mule,
Sham.
Owl,
Weshni-mulo.
Ox,
Mo6shkeni-groo vni .
Parrot,
K6kering cheriklo.
Pheasant,
Bauro cheriklo.
rig,
Baulo.
Rabbit,
Sh6shi-mavi.
Serpent,
Sap.
Sheep,
B6koro.
Snail,
Bouri bauri.
Squirrel,
Rookamengro.
Swan,
Porna rauni.
Whale,
Bauro-matcho.
Wolf,
Bauro-h61om6ngro-j<x>kel.
Worm,
Kermo.
Titles of Office and
Employment.
Barber,
Mormen gro.
Boflrcrar.
M6ngam6u gro.
Blacksmith,
Kaulomeskro.
Butcher,
Mas^ngro.
Doctor,
Tatcho-drab^ngro.
Fiddler,
Boshero.
Goldsmith,
So6nako-petalengro.
Innkeeper,
Kftchemengro.
Lady,
Baunie.
Lawyer,
Sherom6ngro.
Master,
Sh6rokno gairo.
Parson,
Rashei.
Queen, and King,
Eralise, and Kralisi.
Money.
Copper,
Hauro.
Silver,
Roop.
Gold,
Soonakei.
DIALECT OF THE 0IP8IES.
65
English.
Gipsy.
Farthing,
L61i.
Halfpenny,
Poeh-hori.
Penny,
Eori, or hori.
Sixpence,
Shookauri.
Shilling,
Tringorishn
Eightecn-penee,
Dcahto-hauri.
Two shillings,
D66i-Kauli.
Half-crown,
Posli-Kooruna.
Five shillings,
Koorona.
Half sovereign,
Posh bar.
Sovereign (£l )
Bar.
Five pound note,
Panshengro.
The Works of Nature.
Sun,
Kam.
Moon,
Shoon.
Star,
Stari.
World,
Doo voles to-Chairos.
liiver,
Doyav.
Hocks,
Bar.
Mountain,
Dumbo.
Tree,
Rook.
Corn,
Ghiv.
Flower,
K6sali.
Water,
Pauni.
Kain,
Bishno.
Hail,
Bauro bishno.
Snow,
Iv, or hiv.
Field,
Poov.
Forest,
Vesh.
The Seasons, Division of Time, etc.
Spring, First-adair olilci.
Summer, heat, Tattoben.
Autumn, Palla lilei.
Winter, Ven.
Year, Bcsh.
Month, Shoon.
Week, Ko6roki.
Day, Divvus.
V
66
OUlt OIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
JMlgllsll.
Gipsy.
Night,
Raate.
Hours,
4 Ora, y6ro.
Cold day,
Shil di'vvu8.
Hot day,
Tatto di'vvus.
Sunday,
Kooroki di'vvus.
Monday,
Yek dfwus.
Tuesday,
Dooi divvus.
Wednesday,
Trin divvus.
Thursday,
Stor di'vvus.
Friday,
Pansh divvus.
Saturday,
divvus' glal kooroko.
Wni»iw i'<i<
i'H HV Tllli* K*\lTTI<ilf f » 1 1*51
Ass,
Aizeo.
Sheep,
Bakra.
Fish,
Flatrin.
Horse,
Grye.
Cow,
Routler.
King,
Baurio riah.
Queen,
Baurie raunie.
Gentleman,
Been riah.
A man,
Gaugie.
Horse dealer,
Grye feml«*r.
Grandfather,
Nais gaugio.
Grandmother,
Nais nort.
Soldier,
Klistie.
Gipsies, tinkers,
Nawkens.
Wife,
Mort.
We may now observe that it is exceedingly-
difficult to obtain anything like thoroughly correct
information from the gipsies respecting their own
dialect, especially as relates to the orthography of
it. As they have neither records, lexicons, nor a
grammar as written and compiled by themselves,
and as they have never, in England, to our know-
ledge, adopted any plan, or made any systematic
effort to teach their children this dialect fully and
DIALECT OF THE GIPSIES.
properly, it is reasonable to suppose that, as oral
instruction is uncertain, very often gipsies will
pronounce what they understand to be the same
word differently, which renders it difficult for those
who wish to acquire a knowledge of the gipsy
language to have one uniform way of spelling it.
Of this we may give the following example in the
use of the gipsy word meaning 81 good : N one gipsy
pronounced and spelt it to us as "cnshty" another as
" cushgow" the third as u cashgar" and the last as
*eushttnr" The reader need not therefore be sur-
prised if in the few more specimens of the gipsy
dialect we are about to add he should discover
similar diflerences between them and those we have
already quoted.
Although it is not necessary to explain all the
particular circumstances under which the following
sentences in the gipsy dialect were uttered, we may
observe that the first has reference to a visit a friend
once paid to a gipsy encampment, where he arrived
just as an old gipsy woman was preparing dinner for
some members of the tribe she was expecting shortly
to return. A gipsy girl, who appeared to he acting
in the capacity of kitchen-maid, turning to the aged
cook, said to her in the
Gipsy dialect^ u Muk us pukhar the Uei to holl a
crumer of hauben, grandi/' that is, in
English^ Let us ask the gentleman to eat a bit of
victuals, grandmother.
On one occasion an artist was taking a sketch of
the face of a pretty gipsy child, to whom her mother
angrily said in her own language,
41 How dare you let a gorgia ehiv you adri his
F 2
68 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
HI to chore the ralit of your mui ? " by which she
meant,
How dare you let a man put you in his book to
steal the blood from your face ?
We were once holding a little conversation with a
gipsy man named Lee, near an orchard. The ripe
fruit hanging from some of the trees attracted his
notice, and looking intently at it he jocosely said to
us in Romanes,
" My cushty musho, let us jallel some pobbers off
the rook," which simply means,
My good man, let us get some apples off the
tree.
Whenever gipsies see valuable articles of any kind,
it is almost invariably sufficient to arrest their atten-
tion and to arouse their cupidity. A gipsy girl
once said to us,
" My cushty Rei, I will say parakor tut if you
will delmande a rinkno horo wericle or a sonnikey
jamgustrie," meaning,
My good gentleman, I will say thank you if
you will give me a pretty watch-chain or a gold
ring.
If any one in conversation with country gipsies
should happen to express surprise that they, as a
people, should prefer tents, vans, lanes, and commons
to comfortable houses, as living and sleeping places,
the .answer in all probability would be, if given in
the gipsy dialect,
" The kair is cushtow for the kairingro," i.e.,
The house is good for the house-dweller.
We shall now add a few more specimens of this
dialect, given in the following
DIALECT OF THE GIPSIES.
POPULAR GIPSY PROVERBS.
11 A chirriklo adri the vast is worth dui adri the
bor."
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush or
hedge.
4C Never kin a pong 1 dishler nor lei a romni by
nomeli dood,"
Never buy a handkerchief nor choose a wife by
moonlight.
u Del sor mush a sigaben to kair his jivoben."
Give every man a chance to make his living.
44 It's sar to a choomer, kushti for kek till it's
pordered atween dui/'
Its like a kiss, good for nothing until it is divided
between two.
"A cloudy sala often purabens to a fino divvus."
A cloudy morning often changes to a fine day.
" Pule the wafedo boksh jals the cushty boksh/'
Behind bad luck conies good luck.
4 *To dik a puro-pal is as cammoben as a cushty
hauben/'
To see an old friend is as agreeable as a good
meal.
44 The koomi foki the tacho."
The more the merrier.
44 He's too boot of a mush to rokker a pauveri
chivo/'
He's too proud to speak to a poor child.
We may now quote, as an interesting termination
to this chapter^ from Sorrow's 1 Bible in Spain 1
the following —
70
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
PRAYER IN" THE ENGLISH GIPSY DIALECT.
" Moro Dad, savo djious oteh drey o charos, te
caumen Gorgia ta Romany chal tiro nav, te awel tiro
tern, te Kairen tiro lav aukko prey puv, sar Kair-
dios oteh drey o charos. Dey men to-divvus moro
divvuskoe moro, ta for-dey men pazorrhus tukey sar
men for-denna len pazorrhus amande; ma muk te
pretenna drey caik temptacionos ; ley men abri sor
doschder. Tiro se o tern, Mi duvel, tiro o zoozlu
vast, tiro sor koskopen drey sor cheros, Avali.
Tachipen."
ENGLISn TRANSLATION OF THE ABOVE.
" Our Father, who dwellest there in the heaven,
may Gentile and Gipsy love thy name, thy kingdom
come, may they do thy word here on earth, as it is
done there in the heaven. Give us to-day our daily
bread, and forgive us indebted to thee as we forgive
them indebted to us, suffer not that we fall into no
temptation, take us out from all evil. Thine is the
kingdom my God, thine the strong hand, thine all
goodness in all time, Aye. Truth."
♦
ISAAC JOWL^ KING Op THE SOJlETWE USUI III: f!TPST»i.
CHAPTER V.
IPSY SURNAMES AND INTRUDERS INTO GIPSY
FAMILIES.
The most common names of the gipsies — The most ancient
gipsy families — Romantic and uncommon names of gipsy
girls — Origin of gipsy surnames — Pride in high blood — Old
Jowles, the Somersetshire king of the gipsies— Stephens — The
Care ws— Foreign names of gipsies— Adoption by writers
and actors of other names of common occurrence — The origin
of many of our own family names.
n And if kia name be George, I'll call him Peter;
Fur new made honour doth forget men's names."
Shakespeare.
72
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
" Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler, sister woman ;
Though they may gang a 4 kennin ' wrang,
To step aside is human." Burns.
How it is that the gipsy nomads of this country
are known by so many English surnames is one of
the many perplexing questions which may be asked
respecting them. Considering that gipsies are so
exclusive both in their notions and habits, and
having, we think, advanced strong proofs that their
ancestors were originally from Hindostan, the fact
that nearly all gipsy names are common among
ourselves in every part of Great Britain and Ireland
is surprising and remarkable.
The following are some of the surnames by which
the gipsies are known, viz. : Baker, Baillie, Barring-
ton, Blewitt, Bosvill, Boswell, Broadway, Buckland,
Buckley, Burnett, Carew, Carter, Chilcott, Cooper,
Comne, Davis, Draper, Eyres. Faa, Fletcher, Glover,
Greenwood, Hearne, Jowles, Jones, Lee, Light, Locke,
Lovell, Loversedge, Mansfield, Martin, Plunkitt, Riley*
Scamp, Smith, Stanley, Stephens, Stokes, and Young.
The numbers belonging respectively to each name
as given above vary very considerably. The Smiths
are numerous, and of the Stanleys there are about
two hundred in number.
Sylvester Boswell, to whom we have referred in
the last chapter, and whom we consider to be, because
of his intelligence, experience and mature age, the
best and most reliable authority amongst the gipsies
in matters relating to the history and other things
connected with his own people, once said to us that,
" The most ancient and purest families of gipsies in
SURNAMES ; INTRUDERS INTO GIPSY FAMILIES, 73
this country are the Lees, Lovelts, Stanley,?, Drapers^
Coopers, Bucktands, Chilcotts and Boswells" and he
added that the Locks, who are numerous in Glouces-
tershire, are the descendants of Welsh gipsies.
Gipsy mothers seem to possess an unconquerable
partiality to Christian names for their daughters
much more uncommon than are their surnames. The
following are some of them : Alamena, Britannia^
Calinda, Clarissa, Clementina, Cieiti/, Dorah,
Eccrinda, Eunice, Eve, Johanna, Lavinia, Lepronia,
Lilly, Linda, Luchula, Mag; fie, Madora, Naomi,
Rhoda, Rosa, Temperance, Zillah, Keziah, and
Jemima.
If it be true that our ideas and actions take their
complexion from our daily associations and sur-
rounding influences, it is specially so in the case of
the gipsies, whose preference for uncommon names
seems to correspond with the strange and romantic
life most of them lead.
Assuming the theory that the gipsy people are of
Hindoo Sudra extraction to be correct, it is natural
to suppose that their forefathers would, on leaving
India, bring with them, and retain for a time at
least, the names by which they were known in
- their native country.
The question therefore arises, if the above
theory, or any other which traces their origin to a
different and remote country be true, how is it
that the gipsies are known by surnames almost
universally prevailing amongst our own people?
We are not aware that any writer on the gipsies,
or any ethnologist or philologist, has ever at-
tempted to solve this problem. We shall, however,
74
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
refer to a few causes which may probably throw
some light upon this subject.
The fact that the before mentioned and other
English surnames being common among the gipsies
has been adduced as an argument against the
foreign origin of this people ; and some persons
have asserted that this use of our surnames by the
gipsies favours the opinion that these nomads are as
much British both by descent and birth as are other
natives of this island ; the latter being the children
of civilized parents, the former those of wandering
hordes of men and women who from time im-
memorial have infested this country; and that the
difference in physical peculiarities existing between
them and ourselves arises mainly from the gipsies'
rude manner of life, their constant exposure to the
extremes of heat and cold, and the many variations
of weather so common in our climate.
This notion is no doubt owing to the circum-
stance that in all countries tribes of men are to be
found whose habits correspond with those of English
gipsies, but who, though differing in many respects
from the civilized portion of the community, can
nevertheless rightfully claim to be the offspring of
the same, or of collateral progenitors.
Admitting the above idea to be correct as applied
to the tribes of men referred to, yet as regards the
gipsy race a great difficulty arises. How are we to
account for English gipsies, and those in other parts
of the world, speaking, as we have shown, a distinct
dialect, nearly one-half of which consists of pure Hin-
dostanee words, or words resembling that language ?
The gipsies as a race have never in any country
SURNAMES; INTRUDERS INTO GIPSY FAMILIES. 1T>
cultivated an acquaintance with letters. They know
little of science, or art, and are almost in total
ignorance of their bygone history. The little they
know of it is merely of a traditional character, very
hazy, and therefore neither explicit nor certain,
This being the case, the most likely way of account-
ing for the use of this dialect by the gipsies is, that
their forefathers must at some period, remote it may be,
have lived in the country a portion of whose language
modern gipsies retain among them. This argument
derives support from the physical features, manners,
customs and habits of the gipsies strongly indicating
their eastern origin, and in no way favouring the
notion that they are of the same race as ourselves.
In a review of the 4 Word-book of the Romany/
which appeared in one of the London evening news-
papers, occur the following statements, having
reference to the reasons why gipsies are known by
so many of our surnames. It says: "Another link
which connects the gipsies with the Egyptians of old
is the duplicate names they possess, eacli tribe or
family having a public and a private name ; one by
which they are known to the Gentiles and another
to themselves alone. The public names are quite
English. From pride in high blood they have
adopted as public names the most aristocratic of
English family names, such as the Stanleys, the
Greys, and the Marshalls."
** PRIDE IN HIGH BLOOD "
is not a sufficient reason, at least not the only
one, why the gipsies have taken English names,
76 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT. AND VAN.
because many of their tribes are known by names
common among the artisan and even the poorer classes
of our race. If, as stated above, the gipsies have
u duplicate names," it is in favour of the theory
that this people are of foreign extraction, and not
English.
For the adoption, by gipsies, of English surnames
we think the following reasons may be assigned. It
is remarkable that although the gipsies' strange
mode of life exposes them to many hardships and
inconveniences from which a domestic and more
settled life would screen them, they have always
attached a sacredness to their separatedness from
other people, and have done all in their power to
perpetuate their isolation, and, as far as possible,
to transmit from generation to generation the
spirit, disposition, and blood of their predeces-
sors, and to retain a pure consanguinity to each
other.
But although their efforts to do so have been
marvellously successful, they have not always proved
adequate barriers against intruders into their frater-
nity. There have been instances in which men not
of gipsy birth, but who, possessing the same wander-
ing proclivities and love of a wild, loose life as
gipsies do, have, through professions of attachment
to gipsy girls, won their affections and married them;
gained admission among their people, and in the
course of time have been tolerated and recognised as
members of this despised race. The objections of
the gipsies to alliances of this kind are, however, so
strong that years have sometimes passed away before
they have become thoroughly reconciled to those of
SURNAMES ; INTRUDERS INTO GIPSY FAMILIES. 77
their own girls who have by such marriages violated
one of their most stringent laws.
When gipsy women marry our men they of course
take their names, which may account to some extent
for many English surnames being used by men
considered to be gipsies. The children of bucIi
parents, however, in the majority of case* 2 , marry
those members of the gipsy tribes who are of
purer gipsy blood than themselves, so that in a
generation or two their offspring present all those
physical features by which genuine gipsies are so
distinguishable.
The history and family of Isaac Jowles, who was
known in Somersetshire as "king of the gipsies/ 1
furnish a proof of the correctness of the foregoing
statements, Jowles was a native of a village in
Wiltshire, and followed the occupation of a stone-
mason ; but he was not gipsy-born. Having had,
when a young man, an unpleasant dispute with his
family about some property, he left home, and was
not heard of for many years. He married a gipsy
woman, by whom he had two daughters, well known
to ua When these girls were young their features
were very beautiful ; their gipsy characteristics
were, however, decidedly predominant, In due
time they married gipsy men, and had children by
them, between whom and the purest offspring of the
gipsy race it would have been difficult to detect any
physiological difference.
Many years since a man named Stephens, a native
of Gloucestershire, and the son of parents belonging
to our own race, married a daughter of old Myrick
jocke, the reputed ' 4 king of the gipsies" of the
78
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
above county. Stephens lived to be an old man,
and left behind him several sons and grandsons, so
that it is not unlikely his name may become very
common among the gipsy tribes of this country.
These sons having married gipsy women, their
offspring present the same physical, mental, and
moral characteristics as those do who have descended
from old Isaac Jowles.
Amongst English gipsies are several members
named Carew, who are the descendants of the
notorious Bamfylde Moore-Carew, who, although the
son of a clergyman, left his home and joined
the gipsies, with whom he remained some years.
The Carews referred to, having so much inter-
mingled with genuine gipsies, present in a very
marked manner the same singular features as other
gipsy nomads do. It appears, so far, tolerably cer-
tain that these intermarriages and others will in a
measure account for some of our surnames being
common among the gipsies.
Another reason that may be assigned for this use
of our surnames by gipsies may be found in the
account we have given in the third chapter of the
persecutions to which these people have been subjected.
At no period of their history have gipsies been free
from persecution. Whether they are alone to blame
for this, and the miseries they have endured in all
countries and for many ages, is not the question
which at present concerns us. It is enough to know
that their bygone history contains many black
dots of destiny, and is marked by much suffering
inflicted by the authority of the laws of those
countries in which they have wandered.
StTRNJMES; INTRUDERS INTO OIPSY FAMILIES. 79
What are, we would ask, some of the results of
persecution, particularly on those who have no good
moral principles or education to guide and control
them ? We answer, frequently to make them ingeni-
ously wicked and crafty, and to induce them to use
every available means to lessen and to ward off the
cause of their miseries. If a master were to treat his
men as if they were only mere machines to do his
work, or if he were to undervalue their services, or
to grind them down by the mill-stones of tyranny
and oppression, he would very likely in many cases
convert them into unwilling and, perhaps, dishonest
servants, who would be careless of his interests, and
would try, in some way or other, to be avenged on
him for his unkind treatment towards them.
It is not the cold north wind, but the genial breeze
from the sunny south which causes the rose-bud to
open ite petals and to display its beauties. And we
may say with equal truth that it is not persecution,
nor severe measures, but gentleness, fair dealing, and
liberal kindly actions which encourage men to be
willingly obedient, honest, loyal and just, and which
help to nourish and develop the better feelings of
their hearts.
The life, conduct, and experiences of the gipsies
form no exception to the results we have mentioned.
If these wanderers or outcasts from India brought
with them
THEIR FORKtGN NAME?,
and used them for a time, those names, no doubt,
made them very distinguishable from other men,
whose curiosity would be axcited whenever they
80 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
heard those Dames pronounced, and in all probability \
helped to facilitate every effort made for the appre- f
hension of gipsies suspected or accused of having 1
broken our laws. 1
Whenever the singular names and physical peculi- 1
arities of the gipsies, differing so much from our own ,
were referred to, there would be no difficulty, either i»
knowing who were alluded to, or in singling ther«3
out from the multitude among whom they temporarily^
mingled. We need not therefore wonder that, und^ ^
these circumstances, the gipsies should adopt any pla*^ 1
to lull suspicion against them, and to remove at lea^- 1
one cause of their unceasing sufferings. Is it no^^
reasonable to suppose that they might consider th^^
adoption of English surnames to be the most likelj*^
means of obscuring their identity and of producing^"
the results we have pointed out ?
The mention of the names of Smith, Cooper, Davis^
Jones, Baker, &c, would be less likely to directs
public attention to the gipsies than would the^
mention of foreign names. These gipsy nomads
would therefore be less noticed, and so mighfc
escape some of the troubles which the asperity of
the public had created for them.
The probability that the persecutions to which
gipsies were formerly exposed and endured originated
the idea of this adoption of English names is
greatly increased by gipsies as a rule disclaiming
the name applied to them as a people. Even now
they are aware that the word " gipsy " is unpopular
with others, and that the mention of it strengthens
the prejudice existing against their race. They know
they are generally denounced as " a bad lot," which
SURNAMES; INTRUDERS INTO GIPSY FAMILIES. 81
unfortunately they allow to widen the breach between
them and ourselves, and do not hesitate to assign
this as one reason why they perpetuate their wander-
ing, isolated life.
Whether the gipsies have or have not derived from
this assumption of English surnames the benefits they
wished to do, we know not, Be this as it may, it SQ
no degree affects the theory of their foreign extrac-
tion, or that they area separate and marvellous race,
as much so even as the Jews themselves.
There may be some persons who, though admitting
the truth of what we have stated, regard this adoption
of our surnames as an incontrovertible proof of the
vagabondish and crafty character of the gipsy race ;
d as a justifiable reason why efforts should be made,
if not to exterminate them, yet to punish them as
ju sts and as a disgrace to civilized society. But
much care is necessary in using these sweeping
denunciations against the gipsy people, or we may
'nvolve in them other human beings who have higher
pretensions to civilization, education, and refinement
than the gipsies ever aspired to.
The custom of using other names besides those
given to men at the rite of baptism, and for pur-
poses we do not care to inquire into, is of ancient
date, and also very common. Many writers of
articles for magazines and newspapers append, not
their legitimate names, but others by which only
they prefer to be known to the public. Thus we
have " Boz" " Iota," " Caustic," " Littlejohn,"
"Gracchus," "Anglo-Indian," "Crowquill," "Silver-
pen," "Ouida," "Marturia," and a host of others.
Some writers use the initials of their names only.
82 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Lecturers often adopt other names beside their own.
To wit, a social, political, and would-be religious
reformer 6ome time since announced himself as
" Iconoclast ;" another lecturer, who advocated the
theory that the " earth is a circular plane," styled
himself " Parallax." All kinds of aliases have been
used by dishonest men in order to evade detection
and punishment by the law. A notorious fortune-
teller (not a gipsy), whose proper name was a
common one, was known in Paddington not long
since as " Zendevesta and we can well remember
that the late Louis Philippe when escaping from
France tried to pass himself off as plain " Mr. Smith."
Even in the Church and religious houses the same
custom prevails ; nuns receive new names ; and a cer-
tain clergyman pleases to designate himself as" Father
Ignatius ; " and as common as are roses in June, so
is it for theatrical performers to take what they call
" professional names." As before intimated, we have
nothing to do with the motives which actuate men
and women in assuming other names, neither do we
blame them for so doing; our object in what we
have stated is to show that this practice is not
peculiar to the gipsies of this or of any other country.
We remember reading, some years since, in a
London periodical the following interesting remarks
on
THE ORIGIN OF MANY FAMILY NAMES.
The writer says : " The origin of most family
names is too remote in the obscurity of the past to
be authenticated by anything better than a plausible
guess. Generally they tell their own history. An
*riiXAME8; INTRUDERS INTO GIPSY FAMILIES 88
individual trait of character or peculiarity of person
has fixed a descriptive epithet upon an individual,
and the designation extends to his posterity for ever.
Thus we account easily for the Littles, the Longs,
the Shorts, and the Broads, the Hardys, the Strongs,
and the Swifts ; occupations have given name to
the Smiths, the Gardners, the Coopers, the Taylors,
and the Carpenters ; location to the Hills, the
Brooks, the Rivers ; hirds to the Martins, the
Herons, the Crows, and the Sparrows ; descent to
the Williamsons, Jacksons, Johnsons, Richardsons,
Thompsons, And so throughout the greater number
of the names in English, and we suppose it is the
same in all languages, for the philosophy is uni-
versal "
If we admit that it is not only possible, but highly
probable that some of the names just mentioned were
suggested by different objects in nature, may we not
suppose that some of the gipsy names have a similar
origin ? For example, the gipsy people are lovers
of the lane and hedge, hence the name Loversedge*
Gipsies have often been accused of stealing deer, and
of securing, when they could, the finest and fattest
_f the bucks — from this may have come the Buck-
lands. Their love of wild flowers, and their custom
of tenting under trees in mossy glens, and in the
recesses of thick forests, may have originated the
name of Greenwood ; and the name of Scamp, often
given to men of unbridled passions, and who are
defective in good moral principles, may have been
given to gipsies because of their questionable mode
of life, their acta of dishonesty, and loose vagrant
habits,
G 2
84 OUR GIP8IE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
But it may be said that, " bad as the gipsies are,
they would hardly from choice select a name im-
plying so many bad qualities of human nature, and
which would undoubtedly increase a dislike to them
rather than lessen it." But it must be remembered
that absence of moral sensibility and of personal
respect renders some men totally indifferent to any
name that may be applied to them, however
appropriate it might be, or detrimental to their
interests. It is by no means impossible that a gipsy
who had been once called a "scamp" might, if
subsequently asked his name, boastingly and care-
lessly say, if he did not want to give his right one,
" Why some men call me ' Scamp.' " This informa-
tion l>eing given by one person to another, the
gipsy would in the course of time become known
by that and no other name. Such a man as a gipsy
would be very likely to make no objection to such an
epithet, but to content himself by saying, " It's no
odds to me, one name is as good as another ; and I
would just as soon be called ' Scamp ' as anything
- else."
Instances have been known in which, from some
simple incident or other, men have received a name
totally different from their baptismal one, and by
which they and their descendants have ever after-
wards been known. We do not positively assert
that the names referred to were taken by the gipsies
for the reasons mentioned, but we think it probable
that they might have been so.
nut rAiim:u asu ui«* wsoum mtt,
CHAPTER VI.
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFK.
The "tug of war" — Antagonistic views — "Use is second
nature " — Old Draper the kettle-mender — Why he preferred
the hedge to the house — "Gipsies' campaign from Lock's
Fields " — A living dining table — " You are a wild set " —
Gipsy love of freedom and fresh air — An unequal match —
An interesting but mysterious story— A littlo suspicious —
The farmer and some gipsies in Sussex — The stolen sheep —
Strange conduct of a gipsy man at a funeral — An encounter
between a policeman and gipsy Riley— Two cowards ami the
gipsies.
" What is life?
Tis not to stalk about, and draw fresh air
From time to time, or gaze upon the sun ;
Tis to l>o free. When liberty is gone,
Life grows insipid, and has lost its relish."
^ AiiM.son
86
OUB GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Like the rolling sea, the life of gipsies everywhere
seems to be one of " perpetual motion," ever restless
and upheaving, as if they could find no settled home
in any country or locality on the face of the wide
earth. Even their arrival at some favourable and
selected spot in which they may intend to sojourn
for a brief period appears almost instantaneously
to give them some anxiety as to their next des-
tination. This does not, however, always arise from
a love of change or of novelty, but from causes well
known to them as a race, but which we will not in
any way attempt to explain.
If it were possible to make ourselves acquainted
with all the circumstances and events connected with
the wanderings of the gipsy people from the time
of their departure from India through the many
continental countries to which we have already
alluded, we should no doubt discover very many
of them to have been not only painful, but of the
most exciting and romantic kind.
The " tug-of-war " carried on between civilized
communities and the gipsies must of necessity have
produced these results. Judging from what we
know of the history of these nomads, charges and
counter-charges would in all probability be made
by them one against the other. While the former
would denounce the gipsies as a lawless, lazy, vaga-
bond race, the latter would no doubt regard their
accusers as obsequious slaves of custom, etiquette
and fashion, as living a restrained and artificial life,
so much opposed to that freedom which Nature in-
tended to be enjoyed as the birthright of every
member of the human family. Practically, the
gipsies seem to say in their love of liberty and
of a wild life,
m Let others roam . . •
Where Art has spread its most voluptuous charms.
I seek thee, Nature, in thy wildest forms, —
Thy mountain cataracts and frowning heights,
Where, as the unbroken prospect spreads around,
Life-giving breezes, hoalth, and Bpirits bless
The gipsy wanderer,' 1
It is highly probable that these antagonistic views
of what constitutes the real pleasure of life have
increased, on the one hand, hatred to the gipsies,
and on the other has widened the breach which
has always existed between the two, and we may
add is one of the principal reasons why gipsies keep
apart from others. Even at the present time it is
so, as English gipsies have not materially departed
either from the habits or notions adopted and enter-
tained by their forefathers centuries ago.
For the truth of the above statements we have
ample corroboration in the following quotation :
14 Gipsies are the Arabs of pastoral England — the
Bedouins of our commons and woodlands. In these
days of material progress and much false refinement,
they present the singular spectacle of a race in our
midst who regard with philosophic indifference the
much-prized comforts of modern civilization, and object
to forego their simple life in close contact with Nature,
in order to engage in the struggle after wealth and
personal aggrandizement. These people, be it re-
membered, are not the outcasts of society; they
voluntarily hold aloof from its crushing organization,
and refuse to wear the bonds it imposes. The same-
88
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
ness and restraints of civil life, the routine of
business and of labour, 4 the dull mechanic pacings
to and fro,' the dim skies, confined air, and cir- -
cumscribed space of towns, the want of freshness
and natural beauty, these conditions of existence
are for them intolerable, and they escape from them
whenever they can. As in the present, so in past
time, their history for centuries may be written in
the words of the Psalmist : ' They wandered in
the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no
city to dwell in/ "
So far as their mode of life with its multifarious
surroundings affect the gipsies, we may see the truth
and appropriateness of the old adage that
"use is second nature."
Born, as most of them are, either in our lanes, on
our commons, or in the woods, they imbibe from
their earliest infancy a love of freedom, and affection-
for the tent — tattered though it may be, and a
preference for their lonely wanderings, which no
inducement in after life can prevail upon them vo-
luntarily to relinquish. In warm summer weather
especially no bed is to them more agreeably than *
the yielding turf or the mossy couch they find on
Natures generous bosom. On it they sleep and rest
contentedly, with an innate consciousness of quiet
and security, with the blue sky as their curtains, and
the twinkling stars keeping vigil over them.
The pure mountain breeze, the pellucid stream **
murmuring gently as it winds its way through the
valley, the wild flowers of the road-side, refulgent
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFE.
89
in colours of a thousand hues, the majestic trees
of the field and forest, waving crops, grazing cattle,
humming insects, trilling birds, the far-spreading
landscape glorious in its sylvan beauty, the wind
whistling or moaning its solemn dirge among the
forest trees, and even Nature's winter garb, all
possess attractions for gipsy wanderers which no
city, however great its wealth and grandeur, or
costly its buildings, could ever present to their
notice.
Although of late years, more than formerly, some
gipsy families have, during the winter season, oc-
cupied apartments in some of the most wretched
bouses in the low localities of our large towns, they
have not done so purely from choice. Preference
for secluded glens, bye-lanes, and commons is, among
the majority of the gipfcy people, as strong now as
it ever was, of which the following story affords
corroborative evidence.
We happened on one occasion to be passing
through a town in Bedfordshire, when our attention
was arrested by a sonorous voice calling out,
"Kettles, parasols, and umbrellas to mend. H Assuming
it. came from a member of the gipsy race, we hastened
on ip the direction from whence the sound proceeded.
In about a minute we reached the corner of a street,
when we came in contact with an old gipsy named
Draper, who turned out to be the veritable advertiser
of the kettle-mending qualifications just referred to,
and whose personal appearance we will now describe.
His hat was much dilapidated, being loose in the
crown, and part of the brim torn off; in the band of
it was stuck a black, short tobacco-pipe; his face
90 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
was very dirty, even for a tinker; his beard was
bristly and about a quarter of an inch long, looking
very much like a half-worn-out scrubbing-brush;
his neck was enveloped in a faded, greasy necker-
chief; his old coat was out at the elbows; his
trousers also were out at the knees, too short in the
legs, and slit up the insides ; the soles of his boots
were loose, and every time he stepped they went flip-
flap. He carried under one arm some umbrellas,
and in his hand a tin of burning charcoal.
As the old man appeared to be both intelligent
and good-natured, we saluted him with a "Cushty
sala," at which he evinced some surprise. We then
ventured to have a little chat with him about him-
self and his mode of life, respecting which we felt
sure he would not object to give us information,
especially as we half hinted to him that it would be
followed by a few coppers. So the conversation
began by our saying,
"Ami right, my moosh, in supposing you to be
a gipsy?"
u Oh, yes, sir, you are quite right," he replied.
u I was born under a hedge, and very nearly the
whole of my lifetime I've slept under one, excepting
now and then, and especially the last six weeks,
during which I've slept in a house."
" I am glad to hear it," we remarked, u because I
think the change you have made in your sleeping-
place is a step in the right direction."
u You may think so," said Draper rather super-
ciliously; "but we differ in our opinions on that
point. I likes the hedge a great deal better than I
likes the house ; aye, that I do however."
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFE. 91
14 What may be your reasons" we asked the gipsy,
44 for what appears to be a strange preference ? n
"I have two I can give you for that/' he said
very emphatically. " Now, sir, listen to me. You
see, sir, when you sleeps in a house you don 1 1 always
know who you sleeps after, and that is what I don't
like at all. But if you sleeps under a hedge you do
know it's clean, and there's no danger of being teazed
out of your life by the company of bed-fellows which
are much too lively to be agreeable, and very
numerous they tell me, particularly in the close,
confined courts and alleys of large towns, into which
neither wind nor sun-light can find their way, and
where you can't get a mouthful of fresh air/'
Just at this point Draper interrupted himself by
scanning the houses on both sides of the street, in
hope, no doubt, of seeing some one with a maimed
umbrella or dilapidated kettle requiring his mechani-
cal skill. Although we resumed our conversation, it
was but for a minute or two ; the gipsy had become
impatient to be off, and so bidding us a *' Cushty sala"
he turned his attention to business, and again bawled
out, 44 Any kettles or umbrellas to mend? Now's
your time— do em che — e — e — ap ; yes, that I will."
Nothing we could say to him about the advan-
tages and comforts enjoyed by those living in houses
could induce this gipsy to admit that our way of
living and sleeping was either better, more pleasant,
or healthier than his own ; but on the contrary, he
tried to show us that while our life was a confined,
cramped, and artificial one, that of his own race was
dictated to them by the laws of Nature, by which he
thought everybody should at all times be guided.
92 OUll GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
The strange notions entertained by old Draper,
and his preference for a way-side sleeping-spot for
the reasons he assigned, are universally character-
istic of the gipsy race, of which we may see a strong
proof in the following extract, taken from an article
on the "Gipsies' Campaign from Lock's Fields."
The writer, after describing the return of the gipsies
to large towns when their summer and autumnal
wanderings are over, goes on to say, " Not that the
gipsy will consent to do violence to the fine free
spirit with which Nature has invested him, by be-
coming a house-dweller. No ; as close as you please
to the skirts of civilization . . . but four walls and
a roof are not to his fancy. It is the same with the
women as the men. I recently overheard two
middle-aged flowers of the forest discussing the
matter in their encampment in the vicinity of Lock's
Fields, Walworth. Both were sun-bronzed, and
both wore coral earrings, and their straw bonnets
hind side in front. Both were at ease, and com-
fortably disposed for leisurely chat. The one was
seated in a barrow, for which her ample form was an
easy fit, and the other was discussing her mid-day
meal, and was evidently actuated by a determination
to adhere, as far as circumstances would permit, to
those rural domestic rites and ceremonies to which
her heart inclined. She was squatted on a wisp of
hay-bands, by the side of a recumbent donkey, whose
four legs hedged her in, and she had utilized the
flanks of the docile creature to serve as a table.
There was bread and butter spread on it, and about a
quarter of a peck of turnip radishes. There was a
bald shiny patch on the donkey's hip set round with
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFE.
93
hair, and this was made to contain salt, and every
time his mistress dipped a radish into this extem-
porized salt-cellar, and proceeded to scrunch it up,
there was an expression in the animal's half-closed
eyes that betrayed his consciousness that now she
was enjoying herself, and the satisfaction the re-
collection afforded him,
" * Aud how s old Cooper a doin' since he gave up
the wan and took to the housel ? 1 inquired the female
in the wheelbarrow.
u * He's growing wus and wus,' replied her friend,
with a grim serve him right too expression in her
beady eyes. 4 He was right enough on wheels ;
why didn't he stay on 'em ? '
* ( 1 Ah, to be sure, I know what I should expect
would shortly happen to me if once I trusted myself
atween lath and plaster.'
"*But it ain't the laths, and it ain't the bricks,
ray dear,' rejoined her friend; * it's summit in the
mortar that works its way into your cistern, and
that's what'li bunnick old Cooper up, you mark my
words.'
"I don't believe she meant 'cistern,' though
certainly she said it. If I might hazard a guess, I
think she intended to convey her impression that
there was something in the composition of mortar
that was injurious to the human system, and that
old Mr. Cooper was in danger of becoming a victim
to rashly entrusting himself within its baleful in-
fluence,"
Sunshine, unrestrained liberty to roam through
lanes, woods, and wilds, and the music of birds, seem
to be necessary to the happiness and life of gipsies.
94
OUR QIP8IE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
"YOU ARE A WILD SET,"
said an author on gipsy life to a girl of the tribe.
" Open air and liberty make us so," was her reply.
" But would you not like to live in a house ? "
" No," said she ; " I should pine away and die,
just as would that lark " — pointing to one that was
singing on the wing — u if you put it in a cage. I
was born in a tent, I have lived in a tent, and I
hope to die in a tent. I am of true Stanley blood,
and love to hear the wind whistle round my canvas,
and the rain patter on it, and feel myself warm and
snug within. Besides, I love to feel the morning's
fresh air, and to see the smoke of the camp fire
ascend ; no one who has a real drop of Romany
blood in him ever yet willingly took to the life of
the house-dweller."
The same writer states " that two gipsy children,
having been cleanly washed and neatly dressed,
were taken to the house of a benevolent gentleman
who had kindly offered to feed, clothe and educate
them for a while. During the day they amused them-
selves by running up and down stairs and through
the rooms of the house like wild cats in a wood.
But when night came and they were put to bed,
they cried piteously for two hours, saying, 'The
house will fall on us and crush us to death/ They
had not slept in a house before that night."
That the idea of living in a house is repugnant to
the views and feelings of this wandering race as
described in the foregoing incidents derives support
from the following statements made by Mr. S,
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF QIPSY LIFE.
95
Roberts in his excellent work, * Parallel Miracles/
&c M in which he says :
44 If the gipsies could obtain a livelihood without
ever coming in contact with other people, it seems
as if they would rather do so* Nay, they will
6iibmit to the greatest and most severe privations
rather than be compelled to such an alternative.
When they are driven to it, it seems that their
object is to retire from it again as soon as the means
of doing so can be acquired. If, by the severity of
the weather, or other causes, they are forced to seek
refuge under less penetrable roofs than those of their
frail, slight tents, they never resort to the common
lodging houses, among the depraved vagrants of
towns; they obtain a room to themselves, however
mean it may be ; they dwell as retired and unknown
as they can, and they leave their prison-house, like
the earliest sportive denizen of the air, on the first
gleam of sunshine, to enjoy their beloved freedom
in the refreshing breeze of the opening spring,
erecting their own simple, endeared habitation in the
verdant lane under the budding hawthorn, by the side
of the sparkling stream, whose banks are sweetened
and embellished by the violet and the primrose,
while the heavens smile over their heads with
renewed splendour, and the whole welkin rings with
the awakened notes of love, harmony, and delight.
• . . This unconquerable love of freedom and of
the country is not felt in the same degree by any
other people on the face of the globe as it is felt by
the gipsies, universally, and has been so, through
all the ages since they were first known. It seems
inseparable from their nature, and must have been
96
OUR GIPSIES IN OITY, TENT, AND VAN.
impressed upon it for some good purpose by
Almighty power"
The same author informs us that on one occasion
he asked a gipsy if he preferred their itinerant way
of living in the open air to that of residing in a
house. To which the man replied with strong
emphasis, and apparently with sincerity and de^
votion, " Thank God, that I am not compelled to
live in the filth and foul air of towns." On this
subject he seemed to like to dwell. He said, " We
have everything here sweet and clean, and free from
vermin of all kinds. We can go where we like ;
we have no taxes to pay, w.e have very few cares ; we
generally enjoy good health, and though in winter
the weather is sometimes severe, it must be very
much so to drive us into a house for shelter ; that
was, however, the case last winter, and for a little
while we were in lodgings in Birmingham." I
asked if they were in one of the lodging houses.
He replied, " Nothing could drive them into such
dreadful places ; that they had taken a small room
for a few weeks, which they had entirely to them-
selves ; but that he always felt the strongest re-
pugnance to living in a house."
Taking a retrospective, present, and even pro-
spective view of the notions, proclivities, passions, and
surroundings of this strange race, they seem to say
to us, " You Gorjos are welcome to the noise, the
smoke, the gaiety and even the fine houses of your
towns and cities ; we neither need nor wish for them."
So strong is the love of gipsies for their own way
of life that neither money, high position in society,
social advantages, nor domestic luxuries can quench
SINGULAR INCIDEN1S OF GIPSY LIFE. 97
it. In proof of this we state on good authority that
not more than twenty years since an English gentle-
man, hoth by birth, education and fortune, married
a gipsy girl, to whose family he had shown great
kindness* His wife bore him several children.
Much as she loved them, her love for her own
people and their life of unrestrained freedom would
often exhibit itself- At times she became gloomy,
taciturn and restless, and would often express her
dislike to the conventionalities and ceremonies of
high life, so opposed to her own tastes and notions
of what constituted real pleasure and gave to life
Us greatest zest. She longed to break the fetters
which held her in bondage, and to become again
Nature s free child — in fact, she seemed practically to
express herself in the words of one of our own songs —
Sweet liberty I I long for thee ;
I sigh for thee — that where
Thou dwellest, I unfettered soon
May breathe thy balmy air.
That free as birds which wing their flight
At will from tree to treo t
I may aa blithe ae they become,
And sing in liberty.
Just before her husband died he made his own
brother the guardian of his children ; the mother
after the fathers death rejoining her own race.
Although her maternal affection remained, and she
often saw her children, yet she voluntarily ex-
changed her respectable position, associations, and
social advantages^ for the hardships and uncertainties
of a roaming life with members of her own tribe.
The means adopted by some gipsies in order to
H
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98
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
show their gratitude for favours bestowed upon them
may not, in all cases, be commendable, but this does
not weaken in any degree the truth of the assertion
that, as a race, they fully appreciate kindness, which
we may state is one of their most prominent
characteristics.
The following
INTERESTING BUT MYSTERIOUS STORY,
told to us by a friend, in some measure bears out the
truthfulness of the above remarks. It appears that
opposite to where lived our informant was the
residence of the village doctor. The former gen-
tleman being of studious habits often remained
awake in his bed during a great part of the night.
On one occasion, when both Somnus and Morpheus
seemed to be in league with each other to prevent
sweet sleep and pleasant dreams from lending him
their aid, he heard the noise of carriage wheels
coming from the direction of the doctor's house,
and concluded that his neighbour's services were
required iu some urgent case or other of sudden
illness, to which he was no doubt then going to
attend.
On the following day our friend ascertained that
his conjectures were right. The doctor had been
called up from his bed by a gipsy man, who said his
wife was lying very ill in a tent pitched in a lane
some distance off, and that he wanted the doctor to
return with him. Thither the doctor went, and there
he remained until he was satisfied that the now
gipsy mother was so far out of danger. The gipsy
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF 01PSY LIFE. 99
husband then asked, u Wliat a to pay, master ? "
4 * Nothing/' said the doctor. This so surprised the
gipsy that he could hardly believe his own ears ; it
also made him feel quite at a loss to understand
what such unusual and unexpected kindness to them
could mean. He, however, thanked the doctor vtry
heartily, saying, at the same time, 4fc I shall not
forget you, master." The doctor then bade the occu-
pants of the tent u good-raorning," and returned
liome.
In a short time the gipsy woman became con-
valescent, so that she and her family were able to
leave the neighbourhood, but no tidings of their
whereabouts reached the doctor. Summer passed
away, and autumn came on, when, on one of its
dark nights, a knock was heard at the medical man's
door, but when it was opened no one could be
seen. This was mysterious. Again the knocks
were given, and a third time they were repeated.
The doctor then w r ent with the servant to find out,
if possible, what all this could mean, when to his
astonishment he found a brace of pheasants hanging
from the knocker of the door, but there was no
indication as to whose hands had placed them, there*
Subsequently, as the years rolled round, and the
game season came on, a hare, pheasants, or a rabbit
now and then made their appearance on the knocker
of the doctor's door, in the same unaccountable
manner as before. As it appeared impossible to
obtain any satisfactory data explanatory of the cir-
cumstances alluded to, the doctor said to our in-
formant, **I suppose the gipsies I attended some
time since know more about the gnnre I liave so
h 2
100 . OUB GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
often found on the knocker of my door than any-
body else, and therefore I shall conclude that I am
indebted for it to the gipsy man who used the ex-
pression, i I shall not forget you, master/ "
But as no positive proof could be obtained that
the doctor was under any obligation to the man
suspected for the favours referred to, the whole affair
remains to this day as mysterious as ever ; there is
no doubt, however, that the doctor s supposition was
a well-founded one.
- We are indebted to the same informant for the
following account of some gipsies, which certainly
looks
A LITTLE SUSPICIOUS.
Some time since a farmer residing at Plumpton in
Sussex started one morning to see a number of sheep
belonging to him that were grazing in a distant
part of his farm. In his journey thither he had a
little chat with some gipsies who were encamped in
a lane through which he. had to pass. He noticed a
fine leg of mutton suspended from an iron bar and
roasting at a large fire. Having made some remark
about preparations for dinner, the cook, an aged
gipsy woman, generously invited him to remain
until it was ready, and then to join them in taking
a slice or two of the mutton, which, she said, he
" would find very nice." He, however, declined, for
sundry reasons, to accept the invitation.
He then left the gipsies, and proceeded on his
way to the sheep field. There he met his shepherd;
who, with a woeful countenance said, " Eh ! master,
I'm sorry to say another sheep is missing this
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFE.
101
morning — gone since last night ; and although IVe
been looking about for it a long time, I have found
only the skin of it, at leastways, I suppose it was the
skin of the missing sheep, for it was hardly cold
when I found it, but where the carcass has gone to,
I dunna know *
The roasting leg of mutton came vividly % to the
farmer s recollection, and he at once concluded that
he had been invited by the gipsies to dine off the
leg of one of his own sheep, the worth of which had
not found its way into his pocket. Whether the
farmers conjecture was right or not it is difficult
to say, as no evidence was forthcoming to prove that
these nomads had not honestly paid for the said leg
of mutton. It appears, however, that soon after the
farmer's visit to their camp the gipsies had packed
up and gone from the place, leaving nothing behind
theui to show they had been there save the black
patch of ground where the fire had been burning.
While the whole circumstances seem to point to
the gipsies as the parties who had stolen the sheep,
we cannot help remarking that cooking a portion of
it in a place so contiguous to that from which the
animal had been taken is not at all consistent with
the precautionary measures usually taken by this
people in all their movements, especially when they
want to evade detection for any misdemeanour they
may have committed. It must also be remem-
bered that many instances have been known in
which advantage has been taken of the presence of
gipsies, by men more dishonest than themselves, to
plunder not only fields, but homesteads too, with the
belief that the former would surely be suspected,
■
102
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
and that they themselves would in all probability
escape the punishment due to their crimes. Of this
the gipsies are fully aware. Their hasty removal
from the lane where the farmer saw them does not
therefore prove that they were really guilty of the
theft of which they had been accused by the farmer,
8TRANGE CONDUCT OP A GIPSY MAN.
A gentleman residing at Ridge has informed us
that a short time since a gipsy woman, tented in a
lane close by, died of small-pox, and was buried in
the churchyard of the above place. As the gipsy
people have a great dread of all contagiqus diseases,
especially of the one just mentioned, only two men,
members of her tribe, attended her funeral. During
its procession, and even when the corpse was
lowered into the grave, and while the burial service
was being read, one of the gipsy men persisted in
smoking his pipe. Although he gave no special
reason for so doing, there is no doubt he had an
idea that it would be a protection to him against the
fearful malady through which this member of his
tribe had lost her life.
Be this as it may, it is nevertheless remarkable
that although he escaped unharmed, the other gipsy
who did not smoke was taken ill of small-pox, and
died of it shortly afterwards, and we believe was
buried by the side of her he had so recently followed
to the grave. We do not assert that the use of the
tobacco saved the one gipsy man from death, or that
the death of the other was owing to his non-use of
the same preventive means ; we only mention this
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF QIPST LIFE. 103
as another singular incident connected with the life
of the gipsy race*
The wanderings of the gipsies and their location
even in the most secluded and out-of-the-way places
have sometimes thrown them into unpleasant col*
lision with officers of the law, who we fear in
some instances have injudiciously and unnecessarily
exercised the power with which they have been
invested. In proof of this we may narrate
AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN A GIPST AND A
POLICEMAN.
One day, early in the spring of 1870, we happened
to be in the town of Evesham, the inhabitants of
which were astir with wonder and excitement through
a report having reached them of a terrible scuffle
which had taken place between two men, one of
whom was a gipsy, and who had been summoned
to appear before the magistrate to be examined for
an assault alleged against him.
Impelled by the Bame feeling of curiosity which
induced great numbers of the townsfolk to be present
at the examination of bira they readily denounced
44 a roving vagabond," we hastened to the court,
and there learnt the following particulars.
It appeared that Riley (the gipsy who had been
summoned) and other gipsies were tented in a lane
not far from Evesham, where they tied their horses
by long lines to the hedges and left them to feed
upon the grass, A policeman having discovered tlie
retreat of these gipsies, and thinking no doubt that
he had a just reason for interfering and showing his
4*:r.rxr 'v. ^eramco^riLj ^riersd die gxpaes to «ntie
V-ei !ir.«st. v. pock iz T *aii at or.re leave the
Iar:e : -Jvl* zizmea rrri^ai so do-
* Tnicn HI -^Lti'.oee trie horse* fcr yon,"" aid the
- Yoc had ce^er not/" aid Rfley. who was a
ir/v-ri A E-an : * cr von mav rue it."*
y ■ j iccner was the attempt male by the officer to
carry oit Lis threat than a fearful scuffle took place
hetw%n the two men. The gipsy, however, wrested
the cord from the hands of his antagonist, whom he
*er*t reeling with great force against the hedge.
The latter then took up a large-sized stone, which
Ki'Iey produced in court, and struck the gipsy on one
tide of hi* head, which bled profusely. A stand-up
fight between the two men then ensued. Blow
succeeded blow in rapid succession; harder and
harder the men contended for the mastery, until
by the superior strength and science of the gipsy
the officer was fairly vanquished, and no doubt very
glad to leave the scene of the conflict, and so avoid
further humiliation and punishment at the hands of - "
those he considered to be " a lawless tribe."
It might have fared ill with Riley had not one of the
parish authorities told the magistrates that the gipsies
had his permission to camp in the lane, where they had
done ho before, and that they were quiet, and, as far as
ho knew, also honest and harmless too. All the adult'
gipsies of that encampment were present, " watching
the cane," and, of course, all alike anxious to hear
tho decision of the bench as to the punishment to be
inflicted upon this member of their own fraternity.
It was so evident the policeman was the aggressor in
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFE. 103
tiiis case that the magistrates, sifter giving the gipsies
a few words of warning and good advice respecting
their vagrant habits, imposed a fine of a few shil-
lings upon the defend ant, which wafi paid by his
wife, who said, as she was leaving the court with
the other gipsies, u Thank ee, gen'elman — it s better
than we expected — thank 'ee, gen'elman.'* Having
regaled themselves at a public-house, they quietly
returned to" their tents in the lane, which they soon
left for another locality.
o
TWO COWARDS AND THE GIPSIES.
On one occasion when walking from Swindon, in
Wiltshire, to a village about five miles off, to give a
lecture on gipsy life, we happened to come upon a
camp of gipsies, whose tents were pitched under a
hedge in a recess of tha road. Having interested
them by repeating a few words and sentences of their
* own language, we told them what we were going to
do, and that we should be returning to Swindon
about nine o'clock on the same evening. We also
said that if they should hear any sound of alarm
coming from between them and the village, they
were immediately to hasten to the spot from whence
it came, assigning as our reason for making this
request, that in our journeys home late at night
e had sometimes been stopped by men we had
reason to believe were intent upon robbery and
mischief
* All right, my Rei," said a muscular young gipsy
an ; ** we'll be on the look-out, and if we should
bear anything from the dark lane through which
106 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
you'll have to pass, we'll be there in a twinkling ;
as it isn't more than a few hundred yards off, and as
the wind blows from that direction, we are sure to
hear you."
We thanked them, and then hastened on to the
village, in the schoolroom of which we gave our
lecture.
We then left to return to Swindon. Having
walked about a quarter of a mile after leaving the
village, we found ourself in the narrow lane
referred to by the gipsy, with a high bank and
hedge on both sides. Although the stars were out,
their light rendered us but small service. Suddenly,
and unheard, two men came from the hedge and
stepped right in front of us. We attempted to pass
on, but one of them said, " Not so fast, sir, we want
you ! "
" Well, and what do you want ? " we inquired*
" Just to know how you've got on to-night. We
are aware of what you've been up to, and have a
notion that you've pocketed a good bit of money,
and as we are particularly hard up just now, we
want you to hand a little of it over to us, and you
must look sharp about it too, as we want to be off ;
and mind don't refuse, or we may compel you to give
us what we ask for."
We knew that close by was a stile leading to a
path crossing a field, and which cut off an angle
of the road extending a considerable distance. So
we said to them, " It's very dark here in the lane, let
us get over the stile into the field, and then we can
better see what we are doing. One of the men got
over first, then we followed, the other man getting
SINGULAR INCIDENTS OF GIPSY LIFE.
107
over after us. We were all three then in the open field
where the light of the stars rendered so much assist-
ance that we could see enough of the men to know
what kind of material we had to deal with. That
they were not " professional highwaymen " we were
convinced. Nevertheless, they appeared to be
strong, determined fellows, and very awkward-
looking companions under the circumstances. We
have always entertained the idea they were not
strangers to the neighbourhood, but that they lived
not far off ; knew all about the locality, and in all
probability had actually heard our lecture.
Mustering up all the courage and determination
we could, we said to the men,
** Let me tell you that your demand is not only
wrong but a cowardly one. Two to one is by no
means fair, but I am not so helpless as you may
imagine. Close by is a gipsy encampment, to the
men of which I spoke when coming here this after-
noon. They know me well, and promised to be on
the watch for me just at this time, and it may be
they not only hear what I am now saying, but their
eyes may be upon you, I have only to sound an
alarm when three or four of them will be here in a
few moments. I therefore refuse to give you any
money, and defy you, I would advise you to go. If
you remain you are sure to be punished by the
gipsies in their own peculiar fashion, which you
will never forget as long as you live,'*
The fellows were taken aback, looked at each other,
but made no further effort to obtain a part of our
money. Just at this moment a dog barked , and a
voice was heard saying in a subdued tone, "Be quiet,
108 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
dog, do." The men then suddenly turned round,
ran to the stile, got into the lane, and no doubt
scampered off homewards. We then resumed our
journey, soon came to the gipsy encampment, which
had already been reached by two or three of the
men who had been on the alert. After a little oha^
and many thanks for their promises of protection
we hastened on to Swindon. Whether it was oovtf-
science that made cowards of the two would-be
highwaymen, or their dislike to antagonism with
the gipsies, it matters not It is evident the latter
acted in this case "as a terror to men as bad, if
not far worse, than themselves."
fiTTST CIIIEF AND HIS MEN IS 000*4 fL
CHAPTER VIL
TOE TENTS, TANS, AND HOME LIFE OP THE GIPSIES
Tents an ancient order of architecture— An aristocratic tent
and how it was furnished — A chat in a gipsy van — Some
cartes- de-visite— How the gipsies cook their food — Visit to
the town residence of an old gipsy, and how we Aired — Tho
king of the Yetholm gipsies — The dwellings of his subjects
— The domestic habits and industry of some gipsy women —
Gipsy love of music —dancing and other amusements—
Quarrels among the gipsies— Jealousy — Gipsies and the
game laws — Poaching — A gipsy chief and his men in
council — A disputed point — A wicked act— A gipsy's hill
of fare— A gipsy dinner party— Employment of gipsies,
**Home of our childhood ! how affection clings
And hovers round thee with her seraph wings ;
Dearer thy hills, though clad in autumn brown,
Than fairest summits which the cedars crown !
I
10 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Sweeter the fragrance of thy summer breeze
Than all Arabia breathes along the seas !
The stranger's gale wafts home the exile's sigh,
For the heart's temple is its own blue sky."
W. 0. Holmes.
Although there are several orders of architecture
adopted in the erection of houses, which show a
certain degree of art, taste, and elegance, and afford
great accommodation to those who live in them, it
would be rather difficult to ascertain to what particu-
lar order the tents of the gipsies belong, save that
it is one of great antiquity ; although these dwellings
show very little architectural genius, and give but
scant convenience to their occupants. The use of
tents dates a long way back in the history of the
human race, so that from the custom of gipsies living
in them we derive some support to the belief that
modern gipsies are the descendants, or M remnants,"
as Hogg states, " of a race of old."
In describing the simple and primitive structure
of the tents of our gipsy wayfarers, we may notice
that, like more substantial buildings, they differ
considerably in the amount of comfort and accom-
modation to be found within them. Some of them
are wretched in the extreme, consisting only of a
few bent sticks, tattered canvas, or old smoked
blankets, which afford no proper shelter from the rain,
and but poor protection from the severe cold of winter,
while the occupants themselves are often so meanly
and thinly clad and poorly fed, that they look as if
they had formed a matrimonial alliance with poverty,
in which they seem to be " steeped to the very lips.'*
This condition does not, however, appear to affect
»
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. Ill
them as long as their liberty is not interfered with.
They do not, as a rule, as might be supposed, repine
at their lot, but are happy in spite of their pri-
vations, which they endure with patience and
philosophical indifference, while each of theni
seems practically to say
*' While calmly poor, I trifle life away,
Enjoy Bweet leisure by my cheerful fire ;
No wanton hope my quiet shall betray,
But, cheaply blessed, I'll scorn each vain desire."
Fortune has, however, been more bountiful in her
favours to some of these " dwellers in tents" than to
others, A few years since we visited an encamp-
ment of gipsies located in a grass field in the west of
England, whose tents were lofty, spacious, and of
the best materials. The green sward just within
the opening of one of these tents was covered with
carpet; at the other end of the tent were a good
feather bed, bolster and pillows, and underneath a
mattress, palliasse, and a thick layer of loose straw
on the ground. The bedding was clean, and
apparently of the best quality. On one side of the
bed was a large chest containing (we were told by
one of the occupants of the tent, a gipsy widow
woman) choice china ware, plated and silver articles
of various kinds, and other valuables ; all con-
stituting a sort of tent idol, which the widow
and tier daughter seemed to revere and almost to
worship.
On the other Bide of the bed was a large cage
containing a most garrulous grey parrot, who could
utter not only words but sentences of the gipsy
dialect. Over the head of the bed was a minor, and
112 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TEST, AND VAX.
from the centre of the tent roof a paraffin lamp was
suspended. There was, however, neither chair nor
table to be seen. A rough deal box, used as a
depository for the common crockery, was the only
thing, save the ground, that could be utilized as a
table. There were two or three hassocks, which we
soon discovered were for the exclusive accommoda-
tion of a certain class of visitors who were specially
anxious that these women should, by tracing the
lines on the palms of the hands, or by some other
means, reveal to them the store of good or ill luck
the future might contain for them.
At the outside of the tent, and but a few feet
from the opening of it, was the temporary fireplace,
and behind it the cooking utensils. Belonging to
the gipsies of this encampment were some vans;
two of them had cost their proprietors one hundred
and twenty pounds each, and both of them were
fitted up and painted in a very artistic and superior
manner. Each van contained a small bed and
sitting-room well furnished, but were occupied only
when heavy rains and high winds prevented the
gipsies from living and sleeping in the tents, or
when on their journeys they stopped on the way-
side to rest only for a night or two. In the van
belonging to the gipsy who was bearing the honour
as chief of this encampment we noticed several
cartes-de-visite tacked on the inside of the door.
" Whom do these represent ? " we asked the chief.
" Gen elmen like yourself, sir," was his reply, " who
have taken a little interest in our folks, like. If
you'll give me your picture, I'll put it with the rest,
so that when I looks at it, it will bring you to my
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 113
mind when we are many miles apart. I hopes you
won't refuse me, as I have great respect, and some,
thing more than that, for you, for the kindness you
have shown us in so many ways." The desired
carte-de-visite was supplied, and added forthwith to
the gipsy s travelling portrait gallery.
In cooking, the gipsies do not use the tripod so
much now as formerly. Their pots and kettles are
suspended over the fire from the top of an iron bar
about five feet long, sharpened at one end, and bent
at the other at right angles, about nine inches, and
hooked at the end to prevent the pot or kettle from
slipping off. This bar is planted deeply and
obliquely in the ground, so that it may be firm,
and the top of it may lean over the fire. It is also
used for making holes into which to fix the tent
sticks.
Although, as we have before stated, gipsies prefer
a wide range of country in which to wander and to
pick up a living, there are a few, and but a few,
cases in which they have resided and plied their
vocations in large towns. This will be seen in what
subsequently took place some time after our inter-
view with old gipsy Lovell, referred to in the
second chapter.
Before we parted, Lovell expressed a hope that we
should pay him a visit at his home in Agar Town
as soon as convenient. We did so a few days
afterwards, and found his residence to be a crazy,
dilapidated van, which he said had been standing
in the same place about twenty-three years, during
which period it had undergone but few, if any,
repairs. It was neither wind-tight nor waterproof,
114 OUR Q1P8IE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and its interior presented a most uncomfortable
aspect*
Old Lovell was at home, sitting as near the fire
as he could get, smoking a short pipe, which his
wife would now and then take out of his mouth to
have, as she said, just a whiff or two." She was,
however, preparing for dinner, of which we felt
very glad we were not expected to partake, as the
appearance of the cook was by no means a re-
commendation to the viands. Both her hands and
face seemed to be very innocent of soap and water,
of which it was evident also that very little of
either was used by her for anything. The floor of
the van, some distance from the fire, was strewn with
ashes, while an old table, two or three very rough,
rickety seats, the pot on the fire, and even the little
crockery ware we saw, were besmeared with greasy
dirt, and all of them more or less unsafe and un-
sound.
On the occasion of our visit to this gipsy town
residence the rain was falling heavily, and it was
very difficult to keep clear of the wet which came
through the leakages in the roof of the van. Little
as there was in this gipsy habitation to induce a
stranger to remain within it any length of time, we
nevertheless did so, and subsequently paid many
visits to this aged couple, from whom we received
much information respecting the gipsy dialect, with
which Lovell and his wife were well acquainted, and
not only spoke fluently, but explained to us freely
and without reserve. In this particular we were
highly favoured, as gipsies are usually very reticent
in reference to their dialect, which most of them
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES, 115
believe was invented by their forefathers for secret
purposes. Although previous to our first visit to
Lovell's van we had an idea that gipsies residing in
towns had only a limited knowledge of their own
dialect, it was now removed, and we felt much more
inclined to believe that gipsies in England, and in
other countries, strive, as much as possible, in
the most mysterious manner, to perpetuate their
separated ness from all other people among whom
it may be their lot to wander.
An able writer in * Hogg's Instructor' says, in
referring to
THE KING OP THE YETHOLM GIPSIES,
that u the King solemnly averred to us, when we
inquired how ho liked hia wandering life, that
during the winter months in wliich he was com-
pelled to abandon the camp and the wayside for his
snug cottage, he never telt thoroughly well ; but
that as soon as the spring came, and he could once
more sleep in the open air, he renewed his strength.
The refreshing influence of the beauties of Nature,
the freedom from restraint, the careless life, and the
jocund spirit, 4 turning to mirth all things on earth,'
contributed as so many hygienic agents to rein-
vigorate his frame. When he reverts to the days
of his youth, and talks of the greenwood and the
glen, his eye kindles, and the spirit of his earlier
years seems to return, so thoroughly has his heart
been wedded to the wandering habits ol his boy-
hood. ... To wander in pleasant valleys, to
escape from the irksomeness of labour, and to know
I 2
116 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY % TENT, AND VAN.
no control, present strong temptations when con-
trasted with the severe toil with which the peasantry
are familiar."
Mr. Baird, who had a thorough knowledge of the
habits of this people in Scotland, tells us that
THE DWELLINGS OP THE YETHOLM GIPSIES
are by no means of the first order. " Enter,*' he
says, " the dwellings of most of the young married
people of the tribe, and the only furniture you will
probably see is a stool, or a broken chair, which
supplies its place, a pot or a pan, it may be a kettle,
and in a corner of the apartment a little straw,
confined within boards or otherwise, upon which
are thrown a dirty blanket or two, with perhaps a
coarse rug, between which the whole family nestle
during the night. The windows are probably broken,
and the whole room has a desolate appearance."
But to this dark, miserable picture of gipsy life
there are exceptions, to which we have already
referred. " We know," says another writer, " gipsies
whose houses are perfect patterns of cleanliness and
order." Adverting to the scant comfort and con-
venience in the winter homes of the Yetholm gipsies,
one can hardly be surprised that their occupants
should long for the return of spring, with its flowers,
freshness and beauty, when they can erect their
tents in the mossy glen, by the mountain side, or
under the blossoming hawthorn hedge, where purest
breezes blow and Natures woodland singers make the
welkin ring with their soft and sweetest warblings.
While the external appearances of some men and
TEXTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 117
women, seen under different circumstances, are 10
many cases indicators of their tastes, habits, and
general manner of life, they are not at all times safe
criterions by which to judge either of them, or the race
to which they may belong. For instance, numbers
of men worth thousands of pounds a year have
been known to be so miserly and mean as not only
to neglect clothing themselves in decent attire, but
even to appear in our public streets wearing habili-
ments of so wretched a kind that the most needy
of our peasantry would scorn to put them on their
backs.
These remarks, in some measure, apply to English
gipsies. The old faded shawls and frocks worn by
many gipsy women, the shoeless and stockingless
legs and feet of the children, their long, rough,
and uncombed hair, and the common material of
the coats and other garments of some of the men,
which are often very redolent of stale tobacco pipes,
stuck it may be in the hat-band, or lodged, when
not in use, in one or other of their pockets, and
I m ticularly the dingy drabby yellow complexions,
both of some of the men and women, seem at first
sight to indicate that the gipsy people utterly ignore
all necessary ablutions and other laws of health, that
they pay no regard whatever to the duty of cleanli-
ness, in consequence of which the whole race should
be denounced as ** a dirty set/'
However true this may be in some cases, there
are many gipsy men, and women too, to whom the
above remarks are not applicable.
On some occasions the men belonging to the
better class of gipsies wear clothes of good and
118 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
costly materials, which they usually have made in
a peculiar fashion, and to fit well. This is especially
the case with the younger men of some of the tribes.
Many of the women are equally particular in re-
ference to what they call their " best dresses," to
which we shall again refer in a subsequent chapter.
Whatever truth there may be in the alleged laziness
of some gipsy men, much may be said in com-
mendation of
THE DOMESTIC HABITS AND INDUSTRY OP GIPSY
WOMEN.
We can assert from practical knowledge that
numbers of the females of these nomadic tribes are
very particular in the cleanliness of their linen,
which may often be seen nearly as white as snow
lying on the grass, or hanging on the hedgerows
near their encampments. As most gipsy women
object to entrust their property, such as cloth, calico,
worsted, or other materials intended for wearing
apparel, in the hands of strangers, the necessity of
making their own garments falls upon themselves.
The result is, that by the constant use of the needle,
both old and young amongst them are good seam-
stresses and knitters ; some of them are embroiderers,
and even crochet workers ; while not a few are clever
in making fancy articles of various kinds, especially
small coloured baskets for the work-table.
As a people they have a notion that recreation
is a necessity and an important element in the
happiness of life. They indulge, therefore, in many
kinds of games, sports, and pastimes, including
TESTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 119
racing, jumping, feats of strength, sparring, athletic
exercises, and other things peculiar to them as a
race, but in which no one else but those of their
own tribes are permitted to take a part.
GIPSIES ARE GREAT LOVERS OF MUSIC.
In the early part of their sojourn in England
they were our street musicians ; and even now
gipsy fiddlers are often engaged to play the violin
at village feasts, wakes, and rustic weddings. Their
favourite instruments are the harp, fiddle, tam-
bourine, and tin whistle. Such apt pupils in music
are many of them, that if they had proper facilities
and efficient tutors they would be no disgrace what-
ever either to the most eminent composers or to the
most accomplished musicians. We know a gipsy
child who, when only nine years old, was taught
to play on the piano by a lady in Edinburgh, and
in a short time became very proficient in that kind
of music.
It was in the autumnal part of the year, and
not very long since, that we happened to be cross-
ing a field in a solitary part of Gloucestershire,
when to our surprise the notes of some kind of
musical instrument reached our ears. Proceeding
on our way in the direction from which the sound
emanated, we espied some smoke curling lazily
upwards behind some trees not far off. Passing
tnrough the gateway, we discovered a little way
down the lane to our left hand a gipsy tent, from
the fire of which the smoke was ascending.
Thither we hastened wilh all speed, in hope of
120 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
resting a little while, and having a chat with the
gipsies. But we were disappointed, as the adult
occupiers of this fragile dwelling were absent,
having left early in the morning to ply their voca-
tions in the surrounding villages, at lone cottages,
gentlemen's and farm houses. No one was there
save two boys, one of whom was lame, and amusing
himself and his tawny brother by playing a tin-
whistle, for which he never had invested more than
twopence, or it may be threepence at the most.
That he had what some people term "a musical
talent " was evident from the ease and rapidity with
which he fingered the instrument, and, we may say,
from the sweet sounds he brought out of it. Indeed
they were so wonderful that had the surroundings
of that lame gipsy boy been of a more favourable
character than they were, we could almost have pro-
phesied for him a future popular and successful
musical career.
To this hour we remember the half sweet melan-
choly we felt in that quiet spot as the music of the
whistle seemed to blend with the gentle breeze, and
to be softened as it travelled along the narrow lane,
and then coming back in subdued reverberations
from the trees and the side of a hill not far off.
As we believe gipsies constitute one family, it
may not be inappropriate to mention that on the
continent, particularly in Russia, Hungary, and
Transylvania, many gipsies have become very
popular as singers in cathedrals and churches, and
have often been employed to sing before princes and
fashionable assemblies both private and public. In
Spain some of the Gitanos are theatrical per-
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 121
formers, and cases are not infrequent in winch they
have attained great efficiency and popularity,
A gentleman with whom we are intimately ac-
quainted has informed us that during his residence
in Hungary he knew of several gipsy women w T ho
were popular as public singers, and of one in par-
ticular, whose voice was of such remarkable sweet-
ness that she was almost constantly engaged in
singing at concerts given in the private mansions of
the rich and noble for many miles around, and for
which she was always very munificently paid,
Keverting, however, to English gipsies, we may
remark that they seldom sing, having but few songs of
their own. When the women attempt to sing they
never aspire to anything beyond a simple ditty over
the washing-tub, or a soft, low, lullaby to their dark-
ey ed infants. Nevertheless, music, both vocal and
instrumental, has charms even for this despised race,
who, like more refined people, are susceptible to its
soothing power.
In days of yore, long ere our hills were tunnelled,
our rivers crossed, or our valleys were invaded to
make way for railway trains, it was sweet to listen
to the wild music which, emanating from some gipsy
camp in a secluded dell, mingled with the rich notes
of the nightingale and other birds of song, just as
the sun, on his vermilion car, sank below the
horizon in the distant west. Although inroads have
been made on the haunts of the gipsy tribes, and
their music is not heard so often now as formerly,
the old love of it still lingers in the tents, and lives
in the hearts of this singular people. Their home
life is now and then enlivened by music and dancing,
122 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
especially when the women have had " good luck,"
and the men have been successful in their speculations.
It is then they indulge, more than they usually do,
both in eating and drinking.
Much, however, as gipsies have been accused of
being addicted to intemperate habits, we can con-
fidently state, so far as our knowledge of them goes,
that as a rule they do not habitually drink to excess
in their own encampments. Still, it must be
admitted that on the occasion of a wedding of two of
their own race, intoxicants have been in some cases
too freely indulged in. But this habit is not peculiar
to them.
As before intimated, it sometimes happens that
after they have been favoured with a few of
"fortune's smiles," they are so light-hearted and
become so merry that a tune on the violin is pro-
posed, to which all that are able and so dis-
posed dance with great hilarity, especially to that
known as "The White Cockade." But if gipsies
indulge in old and well-known country dances, they
are not ignorant of modern ones. Many of the men
dance well, and the women and girls generally move
lightly and elegantly, and all of them seem to enjoy
the pastime.
Although one of the worst traits of the gipsy
race is a deep, dark, and bitter spirit of revenge,
all those belonging to it cannot be justly charged
with being worse tempered than other people.
Many gipsies are quiet, patient, long-suffering, and
often remarkably pleasant in speech. There are
times, however, when their tempers get ruffled,
and their anger excited. They do not always give
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF QTPSZES. 123
notice of their pent-up wrath by previous grumblings
and threats, but often have been known to blaze
up suddenly, like one of their own camp-fires of
dried sticks. One writer observes that
QUARRELS AMONG THE GIPSIES
do not often take place, but when they do they are
dreadful. The laws of the country in which they
sojourn have so far banished the use of knives from
them that they only grind them, otherwise these
conflicts would always be fatal. They fight like
tigers, with tooth and nail, and knee and toe, and
seem animated only with the spirit of demonism.
Luckily the worst weapon they use is a stick.
We have known gipsies sometimes come to high
words among themselves about the most trivial
matters, on which occasions they have applied to each
other the most degrading epithets. These disputes
have now and then resulted in severe pugilistic
encounters between the men, and even some of the
wives have contended with their husbands for fistic
honours.
Jealousy, 11 the many-headed monster of the pit,"
is sometimes the cause of quarrels, and a source of
great unhappiness amongst this people. If a gipsy
husband should once entertain an idea that his wife
has in any way wronged or deceived him, or been
unfaithful to him, he becomes unhappy, unsettled,
and vindictive, and will even go so far as to
threaten to be avenged by the death of the offending
and suspected parties. It is often very difficult to
remove this jealousy, although the strongest proof
124
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
may be given that the wife is innocent of the crime
alleged against her ; and it is only after the lapse of
a long time, and by the consistent conduct, constant
attention and affection of the wife, that the husband
becomes reconciled, or cheerful and agreeable as on
former occasions.
That this dark picture is not exclusively one of
the life and character of gipsies, we have ample
proofs in the daily accounts which appear in our
newspapers, of quarrels and murders amongst those
who have had greater advantages of education than
has ever been the lot of these wandering tribes.
The ill-feeling engendered by quarrels amongst
the gipsies is not of long duration. A night's
sleep generally suffices to soothe down all irritability
of temper, and to calm the perturbed passions of
their worst nature ; while sober reflection on
the following morning, and the recollection that
they are an isolated and despised race, seem to heal
the breach between them, and to make them as good
friends as ever.
Notwithstanding the conditions imposed by the
game laws upon sportsmen, and the power with
which our rural police are invested, and the legal
authority they have in arresting those who indulge
in poaching proclivities, many gipsy men possess a
rifle or duck gun, in the use of which they are both
industrious and expert. But they take care that the
game they kill shall be flying overhead, for which
the reason is obvious.
To say that they are never guilty of snaring and
trapping ground animals would be concealing the
truth ; but to assert that they are guilty of all the
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 125
poaching acts for which they have been blamed
would be incorrect It is not, however, by the above
methods only that they sometimes secure a good
dinner of animal food, but by the use of lurcher dogs,
whose peculiarity is to hunt without making any
noise, and then returning to the gipsies cautiously
and quietly with a hare or rabbit they have
succeeded in capturing. The lurcher is highly
valued by the gipsies, and well trained by them for
the special purpose referred to.
Immoral as this people may be, the better sort of
them will not allow the use of obscene language before
their wives and daughters, Male members of the
tribe thus offending are not onl; reprimanded, but, if
contumacious, are often outlawed, at least for a time.
When a dispute takes place between the members
of the same encampment about any proposed plan for
the attainment of a special object, or respecting
the direction they shall take in their travels on the
morrow, and the matter cannot be amicably settled
between themselves, the presiding genius and arbiter
is appealed to, whose authority is acknowledged, and
whose decision at once ends the contention.
We shall now adduce an example as an illustration
of the truth of the statements we have just made,
A GIPSY CHIEF AND HIS MEN IN COUNCIL,
It was on a bright October morning a few years ago
that we visited an encampment of gipsies, near the
river Severn, who seemed to be "a little out of
sorts p one with the other. Some incident or other
had evidently disturbed them, for we saw on almost
126 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
every face an expression of dissatisfaction and ill-
humour. An unpleasant discussion on some difficult
question had, it appeared, taken place among them,
in the settlement of which they could not at all
agree. The chief of the clan, who was then appealed
to, exercising the authority with which he had been
invested by the other gipsies, gave an order that the
male adults should assemble at once at a given spot,
which they immediately obeyed. It was to us an
interesting and novel sight. There stood the chief,
a stalwart fellow rather more than six feet high, and
around him were grouped eight or nine men, all of
whom were dressed in velveteen or corduroy coats
and trousers ; two or three of them had on red plush
waistcoats, the legs of most of the older men were
enveloped in leather gaiters, and round their necks
were coloured poshniknes, while the usual dome shaped
broad brimmed hats were worn by nearly all of them.
Noticeable in the group were two aged men, who
leaned for support upon what looked like young ash
saplings six or seven feet high. Indeed such was
the general appearance, the bronzed faces, and dark
hair of the men, that we might have fancied they
were a band of North American Indians concocting
some plan for a raid upon the homesteads of some
European backwoods-men, whom they considered
were intruders upon territory exclusively belonging
to them. A few feathers and skins would have made
the picture, according to fancy, almost complete.
The point in dispute having been introduced was
discussed with considerable earnestness by the gipsy
men, and many pros and cons were advanced con-
cerning it. The chief, after he had dismissed the
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 127
assembly, informed us that the subject on which the
gipsies could not agree was hardly of sufficient
importance to justify either so much waste of time or
the trouble it had involved. It was simply whether
it was right or not for another gipsy to use the same
hawking licence that bore the name of some one else
belonging to their tribe. The chief said he told them
it was illegal to do so, and that such a tiling was rather
risky, and very likely to bring trouble upon those
who might use the licence without proper authority.
To this decision they were bound to accede ; whether
the gipsies strictly carried out this idea or not we
never had an opportunity of ascertaining.
Although gipsies escape most of the disorders
common in large towns, typhus fever is often fatal to
them. Their dread of it and of the small-pox and
measles drives them almost to distraction. They
are not, however, more subject to rheumatic affections
than other people. When they are afflicted by the
last disorder they usually eat large quantities of
mustard, as they believe it to be the best specific
they can have recourse to for this complaint.
Many gipsies have been accused of carrying in
their pockets small bottles containing a liquid called
*'drow t " which has a property not only intoxicating
but destructive to animal life. This liquid the gipsies
have been charged with pouring into pig troughs,
knowing that at their next meals the pigs would
take it with their food, and that death would quickly
follow. Just about the time this takes place some
gipsy or other is sure to be passing, to whom the
owner of the pig or pigs is certain to make known
his loss. An inquiry by the gipsy as to the disposal
128 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
of the body usually ends in an offer of it for a very
trifling sum, it may be a shilling or two, and in
some cases the gipsy receives it without payment,
conditionally that he will take it away at once.
This is speedily done, and thus the gipsies have a
good supply of food for some time to come. We
may here remark that the "drow/* although fatal
to life, in no way affects the flesh of the animal,
or deteriorates its value. It is, however, right to
state that this practice is resorted to only in cases of
great hunger or extreme emergency.
a gipsy's bill of pare.
" There is no accounting for taste " is a common
saying, and is particularly applicable to the gipsies
as regards some kinds of food of which they fre-
quently partake. We refer, first, to the hedgehog,
whose flesh they prefer to hare or rabbit, and which
an old gipsy woman once said, " was ever so much
more delicate and flavourable than that of any other
animal eaten in England."
The gipsies sometimes roast the hedgehog before
the fire, but their usual and favourite method, of
cooking it is as follows : They first stun the animal
by a heavy blow, then cut a slit in the skin the
whole length of the back ; it is then enveloped in a
coating of clay about half an inch thick, after which
it is placed in a hole in the ground, and a fire made
over it. When the clay is well baked it is taken
out and broken, but the heat having caused the
spines of the hedgehog to adhere to the clay very
firmly, they are almost inseparable from it. The
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 120
U>dy therefore comes out without the skin, and,
being well-dressed and full of gravy, presents a
tempting dish to the appetites of those for whom it
may have been intended ; but as the animal is a very
mall one, we hardly need say it is soon devoured.
Snail soup is also another favourite dish of the
gipsies, and one which old esculapian gipsy women
recommend to persons in delicate health. In the
month of February we visited a gipsy family who
were staying in a lane not far from Wootton-under-
Edge, The north wind was keen and strong, and
as it swept through the leafless trees produced a
doleful sound. Partially sheltered from it by the
hedge and an old canvas tent sat a gipsy mother
and three children belonging to the Locke tribe
of gipsies. By the side of the smouldering embers
stood a coffee pot without lid or handle filled with
snail soup, which was to constitute the mid-day meal
of this family. Although it was by no means
unpleasant to our olfactory nerves, the idea of
drinking or eating these slippery-looking creatures
was too repugnant for us to accept the invitation to
taste a little of it so kindly given by the woman.
On one occasion when travelling through Hert-
fordshire we saw a man some distance off, standing
by a bridge which crossed a narrow stream running
under the roadway, and very busily engaged in
something which appeared to absorb the whole of
his attention. When we reached the bridge we
discovered the man was a gipsy, who, having picked
up a capacious pocketful of snails, was taking them
out one by one, and then, by striking them on a
stone of the bridge, separated these slimy animals
K
130 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
from their shells (which he threw away), but the
divested bodies of which he put into his other pocket.
Although we asked him in a very quiet, civil sort
of way what he was going to do with the snails, he
did not appear to be very well pleased with the
question, for there was an expression both on his
face and in his dark eyes which seemed to say, " It's
like your impertinence to pry into other folks*
business, so you had better walk on and attend to
what may concern you more than asking me what I
am doing or intend to do." But whatever he thought
or felt, he made no rude remark, but spoke very
civilly to us in explanation of his object in securing
the snails. He said he was very "hard up" for
money, and as he could not afford to buy animal
food, he was going to have as good a meal as he
could get out of stewed snails. Although we did
not covet the gipsy's anticipated feast, we bade him
good-morning, and left him to finish his work, the
tfiought of which we felt was quite enough
" To cloy the hungry edge of appetite."
A GIPSY DINNER PARTY.
Many of the gipsies are now more choice and
clean in the food they eat than they formerly were.
Many of their women are capital cooks, and have a
thorough knowledge of what constitutes an agree-
able and substantial meal.
We were once present when a gipsy family were
dining. The repast was a plain and savoury one.
It consisted of boiled rabbit and pickled pork, melted
butter, and two or three different kinds of vegetables.
■
TENTS, VANS, AND HOME LIFE OF GIPSIES. 131
after dinner the gipsies had tea, new bread and
butter. The green sward was their table, over
^hich they had spread a clean white cloth, and
around it the members of this family were seated cross-
legged, and apparently without feeling the least
inconvenience from this half doubled-up position.
The plates and dishes were of a superior kind ; the
lids of the mustard-pot and pepper-box were of
silver; the cream jug was of the same material;
and they used ivory-handled knives and silver forks.
We learnt afterwards that these things were not
for every-day use, only when a visitor was expected,
or on any very special occasion.
There are, however, very many gipsy families
who cannot afford these indulgences. Their food is
often very scarce and coarse ; their cooking utensils
are but few in number, and of the commonest kind.
In what we have stated we see two opposite and
distinct phases of the home life of these wandering
tribes.
Gipsies are fond of tea, but often use English
herbs as substitutes. Both the men and women are
partial to tobacco, which they smoke and chew, and
in some cases swallow the juice.
EMPLOYMENT OP GIPSIES,
English gipsy men but seldom perform what may
be called hard labour. Now and then one of them
may be seen squatting under some sheltering hedge,
or beneath his rude tent making clothes-pegs, or
butchers* skewers, or it may be useful and fancy
baskets. As before stated, some of those who live in
k 2
132 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
or near our large towns grind scissors, and mend
cane-bottomed chairs, and some do a little in repair-
ing umbrellas. Many gipsy men deal in horses,
Welsh and Scotch, or Shetland ponies, and are in
consequence generally seen at our fairs, buying or
selling them. A gipsy family named Hearne, who
had two or three horses and carts, earned a living by
conveying gravel, wood, and coal for the gentry and
others in the town of Uxbridge.
The sale of articles, especially tin-ware, manu-
factured by the gipsies, chiefly devolves upon the
women. Young gipsy girls carry baskets containing
a miscellaneous stock of useful and fancy articles,
including nail and tooth brushes, combs, pins, needles,
thread, thimbles, trinkets, finger-rings, gold-looking
chains, small French pictures, boot and stay laces,
buttons of many sizes, shapes and colours ; and
in winter time worsted mittens, knitted by them-
selves, may be seen in their baskets. These they
offer for sale with the two-fold object of disposing
of them and telling fortunes where they , see an
opportunity, for an old dress or shawl, and Inoney
where they can obtain it.
A WEDDING PRESENT TO tilTOT RIRL.
CHAPTER VIII.
GltSY WEDDINGS, BTRTIIS, BAPTISMS, ETC.
courtship — Gipsy man and his pint measure full of
sot e reigns — A wedding present — Marriage of William Lee
and Ada Boswell— Gipsy wedding in a fland-pit — Fiddling,
dancing, carousing — The author one of the spectators — A
lady's misplaced affection — A marvellous and strange story —
A gipsy chair-mender — The farmer's widow and gipsy
Smith — The young mechanic and gipsy girl — Gipsy law
about marriage — Birthn of gipsy children — Tho midwife,
and gipsy child born one midnight under a hedge— Bap-
tisms of gipsy children — CI a Lock and the rector — An
interesting interview,
I saw two beings in the hues of youth.
Standing upon a hill, a gentle hill, * * •
These two, a maiden and a youth, were there
Gazing — the one on all that was beneath,
Fair as herself ; but the hoy gazed on her ;
134 OUlt GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
The boy had fewer summers, but his heart
Had overgrown his years, and to his eye
There was but one beloved face on earth,
And that was shining on him." Byron.
Widely as the numerous tribes of mankind differ
from each other in many of their notions, habits,
customs, religious ceremonies, and dispositions, all of
them are, more or less, susceptible to various human
passions, especially to that called love, referred to
in the above lines by Byron, and which in all ages
and countries have produced tendencies and results
of a similar kind. Marriages of men and women
in some form or other are almost as universal as the
passions which render them necessary.
Gipsies, however ignorant and depraved they may
be, are influenced by the same emotional powers as
are those to whom we have just adverted. We
shall therefore attempt to give some information on
the marriage ceremonies, births, deaths and funerals,
as they take place amongst the gipsies of this country.
As by this nomadic race various preliminaries have
to be attended to, and certain laws and conditions
agreed to and obeyed before marriage can take place
amongst them, we shall first briefly glance at
GIPSY COURTSHIP.
We have been informed that gipsy custom and
laws require the full consent of the parents or
guardians on both sides before those of their tribe
who are candidates for matrimonial honours can be
united in wedlock either according to their own
usage or the law of the land. They must be be-
Q1PSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC. 135
trothed two years previous to the marriage, during
which period they are strictly forbidden to enter the
camps in each others company, or to have any
clandestine meetings beyond the place where they
may be sojourning. Should they violate these rules
the intended marriage may not take place, at least-
no t amongst themselves, and the delinquents may be
outlawed by the rest of the gipsies.
It has sometimes happened when gipsy parents
or guardians on either side have objected to the
union of two of their young people that the latter
have run away to another district, in the parish
church of which their marriage ceremony has been
performed. But although they have thus been
legally made husband and wife, in some cases they
have not rejoined their families until two years
afterwards. If, however, the parents of the girl have
ascertained that she has been kindly treated by her
husband, they have forgotten all past grievances,
and frequently shown their approbation by great
generosity towards them, although they had at one
time so much disapproved of their daughter be-
coming the young gipsy's wife.
Many gipsies are now married according to the
of the Church of England, which some of them
think to be much more binding upon them than
their own mode or ceremony, so common amongst
them even within our own recollection,
OIPSV WEDDINGS.
A gipsy marriage was celebrated not long since
in a village church near Bristol. When the party
136 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
returned to the encampment in a lane not far off, the
bride's father threw, a pint measure full of sove-
reigns into the girl's lap, saying, "There's your
wedding present, my child, and may God bless you."
A few years since a gipsy wedding took place in
the parish church of Hillingdon, near Uxbridge.
The gipsies were gaily dressed, and the marriage
was one of unusual parade and expense. On these
occasions gipsies keep up their carousals for many
days, during which time they spend large sums of
money, generally hoarded up in small amounts for a
long period previously and for the special purpose to*
which we have adverted. On these occasions gipsies
are singularly extravagant in the purchase of
comfits, and such like sweetmeats, some of which
are eaten, while not a few are scattered on the grass ;
near and around their tents. The special object of
this custom we have never been able satisfactorily to *
ascertain. We have some reason, however, for "be-
lieving that in the gipsy people there is a latent
feeling of superstition connected with this practice,
the observance of which they imagine constitutes a*
favourable augury of future good to themselves as a
race both collectively and individually.
A few weeks since an account of a gipsy wedding
appeared in one of our newspapers, which it
describes as follows: " An interesting ceremony has
been performed in Bunbury parish church, Cheshire,
in the marriage of William Lee and Ada Boswell,
two gipsies residing at Haughton. The bride was
attended by one bridesmaid, Morgiana Lee, while the
bridegroom was accompanied by his brother. The
bride was attired according to gipsy custom in a
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC. 137
dark green dress, with white lace apron and cap, and
she also wore a wreath of gold leaves. The brides-
maid was robed in a peacock blue velveteen dress,
with white cap adorned with pink chrysanthemums.
The service was performed according to the rites of
the Church of England by the Rev. W. Lowe,
Vicar, Afterwards, on the invitation of Mr, and
Mrs. Garnett of Haughton Hall, who accompanied
the parties to the service, the bride and bridegroom,
together with a number of gipsy friends and compan-
ions, went to the Hall, where breakfast was served
in a gipsy tent on the lawn. Toasts were proposed
in the Romany dialect. 1 '
GIPSY WEDDING IX A SAXD-P1T.
It was on a cold morning in the month of Novem-
ber some years since, that we started on a walking
journey to a village about six miles away from the
one in which we had slept during the previous
night. The outlook was by no means a pleasant
one. The roads were dirty, rough, and lonely- A
thick fog hung over the landscape ; the leafless
hedges seemed to come into view like grizzly bears,
increasing in size as we approached nearer to them*
The trees looked like gaunt spectres stretching
their long trenchant claws, which, swaying gently,
bo gently that their movement was hardly percep-
tible, reminded one of the tentacles of the sea
anemone, which that animal uses to secure any prey
that may come within its reach. It was a cold,
almost freezing kind of silence that surrounded us.
There was not a sound which indicated the existence
138 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
of active life, save that of otir own footfall in the
rutty, chalky-mud road in which we were walking.
We had proceeded on our journey a little over
three miles when the silence was broken by the faint
noise of some kind of music. We stood " stock-still "
and gazed all round, but could see no sign of either
animal or human being. We, however, resumed our
journey, and as we proceeded the sound of music
mingled with that of human voices reached our ears.
On we trudged, and ere long came to an encamp-
ment of gipsies in a sand-pit by the side of the
dreary Yorkshire lane we had chosen, the sooner to
reach our destination.
The fog had by this time partly cleared away, so
that there was no difficulty in comprehending by a
few glances the whole scene now open to our view.
If it was not Pandemonium represented, it was
certainly the most exciting affair we ever witnessed
in a sand-pit. In attempting a description of this
novel spectacle we may refer to an old gipsy man
with silvery hair, and bronzed wrinkled face, with
but one eye, and who was standing on a little mound
playing on a violin, which had only two strings to it,
that well-known tune " Haste to the Wedding/' to
which the younger gipsies were dancing with great
hilarity.
There were several tents, at the openings of which
fires were burning, crackling and blazing away as if
to contribute their share to the general commotion.
While some of the older women were watching the
dancers, others were busily engaged in culinary
preparations, which seemed to indicate that some-
thing more substantial and agreeable than fiddling
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC. 139
and dancing would follow by-and-by # This pic-
turesque eight was apparently much enjoyed by the
swarthy-looking masculine gipsy chief of this par-
ticular encampment of gipsies, who stood with hia
hands in his pockets steadfastly gazing upon the
dancers.
The chilly air of that November morning, the
strange out-of-the-way place in which what we have
already described was taking place, and likely to
take place, so excited our curiosity that without
invitation we walked up to the chief, bade him good-
morning, and then asked him the cause of all this
merriment, to which question we received a reply
which indicated that he regarded our visit as an
intrusion, and our interrogation as a prying and
impertinent one.
Whether this man, who bad been elected to the
dignity and invested with the authority of Gipsy
Chief, considered that this fact and the presence of
his fraternity rendered the sand-pit far too sacred
to be defiled by the imprint of a Gorjo's foot, we
know not ; but seeing how matters stood, and that
we were in a little danger of a summary ejectment
by physical force from the place where we were both
standing, and not liking the idea of having to
beat an ignominious retreat, we made an apology
for what the chief no doubt considered to be our
want of courtesy to so dignified a person. That he
bad graciously condescended to accept our apology
was evident from the effect it had produced in him,
not only in chasing the frown from his brow, but
by inducing him to communicate to us in a very
pleasant manner the information we had asked for.
140 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
" Well," he said, " if you tcants to know, I'll tell
you. We're going to have a wedding"
" A wedding," we said, " what, here in this sand-
pit? Is it not a very strange place for such a
ceremony as a marriage to be performed in ? "
We then took a survey of all the tents and their
occupants, as well as of those engaged in the dance.
The chief noticed this, and asked, "What are you
looking for ? "
u Looking for," we replied; "you said just now
you were going to have a wedding of two of the
young gipsies."
"Certainly so, I told you that, and I thinks it's
plain English, is it not ? "
" Oh, yes," was our reply, " plain enough, to be
sure, but it is not so plain that you have made all
the necessary arrangements for such an event. I
was, therefore, looking for the minister who is to
join the young folks you speak of in the bonds of
matrimony."
"Oh, you are looking for the parson, are you?"
he said, and then laughed very heartily. "The
parson, indeed," he repeated, and then said, "why
lor bless you, sir, we gipsies never uses them sort o*
things at our weddings; you may do so, but we
generally manage the business without them. Now
look here, as you seem to be a little bit curious and
ignorant, too, about the matter, if you likes to stop a
short time you shall see our way of making our men
and women husbands and wives." Of course we
consented to do so, and thanked him for the oppor-
tunity.
It appears the two young gipsies referred to had
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC, 141
finished the period of their betrothal, aod were that
morning to be married in true gipsy fashion* By
order of the chief the music and dancing ceased.
Two rows of gipsies with about twelve or fifteen in
each row were formed, standing face to face, being
between four and six feet apart. Half-way down
between these rows two gipsies held up a broom-
stick about eighteen inches above the ground.
All being thus far in readiness, the chief called out
the name of the bridegroom, who was a very hand-
some gipsy man about twenty-two years of age. His
hair and eyes were very dark, and the conformation
of his face strongly indicated the race to which he
belonged. He had on an olive-coloured velveteen
coat, red waistcoat , and a glaring-coloured poshniknes,
or kerchief, round his neck. In person he was tall,
muscular, and well made. In obedience to the
chiefs command he came from a tent at one side of
the encampment, walked between the rows of gipsies,
stepped over the broomstick, turned round, and then
stood with his arms akimbo waiting the arrival of
his intended wife.
The chief then called out the name of the bride,
who came from a tent at the opposite side of the
encampment. She was about nineteen years of age,
rather short of stature, apparently of a healthy and
hardy constitution, while the pearly lustre of her
eyes and long dark glossy hair seemed to identify
her with the purest remnant of the gipsy race. She
also walked between the two rows of gipsies, tripped
very lightly over the broomstick, which she had no
sooner done than the young gipsy man, in the most
gentle and gallant manner imaginable, took her in
142
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
his arms and completed the ceremony by giving his
new-made wife some of the loudest kisses we ever
heard in our life.
While all this was going on we were standing by
the side of the chief, gazing intently and curiously
on the scene before us. " There now," said he,
turning to us, " that's the way in which we manages
our weddings ; they two be now man and wife, and
I hope nothing unpleasant will ever part 'em; " and
perhaps, as he thought to make a lasting impression
upon our mind of what we had witnessed that
morning, he gave us a tremendous thump on the
ribs with his heavy elbow, which not only nearly
took away our breath, but for a few moments
all recollection of what had transpired. We how-
ever soon recovered from the effect of what we
shall always regard as the least expected, and we
think the least intended, but certainly one of the
heaviest sledge-hammer blows we ever received in
our life.
As soon as the ceremony was over, the music and
dancing were resumed ; the whole of the members of
the encampment had suspended business; prepara-
tions for a good feast, indeed we have some reason
for saying, for u a kosko romany hauben," were
going on ; every face looked bright, and every heart
seemed joyous. The men smoked, the women
talked volumes, the children shouted and frolicked,
the old horses grazed by the side of the banks, the
donkeys nibbled their coarse food with a self-
satisfied air, and looked as if conscious they were to
have that day's respite from their weary toils ; even
the two or three dogs that were there wagged their
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC. 143
tails as if in anticipation of an extra feed, or of
better and a larger quantity of rations than usual,
even without the trouble of having to hunt before
any dinner could be allowed them.
Having remarked to the chief that their mode of
marrying was not only a strange one, but so brief
that it could hardly be considered as sufficiently
binding upon the parties united in such a manner
to induce them to fulfil all the legal, social, and
domestic duties a married state necessarily imposes,
** Never you mind about that," was the chiefs
rather curt reply, " let me tell you that those young
folks just married not only know what their duty is
to themselves and to us too, but may be they'll carry
it out, or attend to it, every bit as much as some of
those do who get married in your fine churches,
chapels, and such like places/'
Time had sped on rapidly, and it was now past
noon before we were reminded of the ostensible
cause that had brought us into that lonely part of
Yorkshire. After thanking the chief for allowing
us to witness what we have described, and express-
ing a hope that the newly wedded pair would be
happy, we bade him a "cushty divvus," and went on
our journey. Although we saw no more of this
encampment of gipsies, we subsequently heard that
they had kept up their carousals in the sand-pit for
several days, and had been guilty of excess both
in eating and drinking, having spent about fifty
pounds on the occasion,
A mere superficial acquaintance with gipsies, or a
casual visit to their encampments, can never give an
adequate idea of the variations incidental to their
144 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
wandering life, which has its dark as well as its
bright side. As we were walking along and
musing over the scene we had just witnessed, as
described above, we were forcibly reminded of a
verse in one of Eliza Cook's poems, in which she
graphically describes this one phase of gipsy life.
The gipsy chief alluded to, in the treatment we
received from him, and in the information he gave
ns, practically said to us :
" Our fire on the turf, and our tent 'neath a tree —
Carousing by moonlight, how merry are we !
Let the lord boast his castle, the baron his hall,
But the homo of the gipsy is widest of all.
We may shout o'er our cups, and laugh loud as we will,
1111 echo rings back from wood, welkin and hill ;
No joy seems to us like the joys that are lent
To the wanderer's life and the gipsy's tent."
It is somewhat remarkable, as before noticed, that
although some gipsy girls have been induced to
marry men not of their own race, but very few
gipsy men have married our women. But we may
here assert that it is not because they have no
opportunity to do so. Leap year, or no leap year,
and strange as it may at first sight appear to the
reader, many cases are known in which, not only
peasant women, but even ladies have fallen in love
with handsome gipsy men, have essayed the court-
ing, and offered hand, heart, and fortune to them if
they would but consent to marry them. But tempt-
ing as most of these offers have been, the cases are
very rare in which they have been accepted. The
following story bears out the remarks we have just
made.
WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC 145
A lady's misplaced affectiox.
Some years ago we knew a young gipsy man,
who, on account of the conformation of his face and
certain physical characteristics, might have passed
muster for a genuine Spaniard. One day, as we
stood chatting with him near his tent, he told us he
was in a little difficulty, respecting which he wanted
our advice, and then said he hoped we would give
it Mm freely and as a friend.
** Certainly," was our reply. u But what is the
difficulty you speak of, George? "
** Why, it's just this, sir,*' he said. u A short time
since we were camping near a large fashionable
town, where we were visited by great numbers of the
respectable folks — gentry you calls 'etn — but there
was one lady who came to see us every day, and I
think we were worth seeing, as we numbered about
gbcty men, women and children; well, it was soon
noticed that the lady I speak about always made
her way towards my tent. At last she spoke to me,
asked me my name, and a lot more things like, some
of which I didn't care about answering. That's a
sort o* thing you must know we gipsies don't like.
If we re asked no questions, we can't tell no lies in
answering them,
* Well, I couldn't make out how it was that this
said lady should make a point of coming to chat
with me. But I ought to have known — leastwise
my brother, who was living with me, saw through
it as clear as glass, 1 Why, George,' he said one day,
4 that woman's in love with you, as sure as ever I got
146 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
them ten shookories from that Gorjo the other day
for a thing that wasn't worth one/ And he was
right, for at last she said she loved me, and that she
had tried to stifle the passion but couldn't ; and then
she said she wanted to marry me, and that if I
didn't consent she couldn't live, and she sobbed fit
to break her heart. And then my heart came on
awful, for I couldn't abear to see her in such a state.
I was in a terrible fix, it came on to me so sudden
like. It made my heart as soft as a mashed turnip.
I could a sobbed too, but I didn't — I was fairly
toppled over and couldn't find nothing to say.
" But at last the lady became a bit calmer, and
talked quiet, and then she said, 4 1 must go now,
but will come again to-morrow, so between now
and then you can make up your mind to grant me
my wish.' She came ever so many times after
that, and seemed to be more pressing at every
visit; but I never give her a satisfactory answer.
So one day, rather sudden it was, we packed up,
left the place and came on here, but I'm afeard
she'll find us out. I shouldn't wonder a bit to see
her walk into the field one of these days." Just
at this point of the conversation, George looked
towards the gate, laid his hand on our arm and
excitedly exclaimed, " Wafadou bok to it, but here
she is as sure as I'm a Eomani-chal, and she's
coming this way."
Turning our eyes in that direction, we saw the
lady who had been the subject of our conversation
and the veritable cause of George's difficulty, coming
rapidly towards us. As soon as she arrived she
shook the gipsy by the hand. We then left the
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC. 147
two in conversation, which was so prolonged that
we were compelled to leave the field before it was
over, and therefore did not see George until the
next day. As the gipsy had asked our advice on
the matter referred to, we endeavoured to point
out the folly of supposing that their marriage
could be a happy one* considering the great dis-
similarity existing between their social positions.
44 It would be natural for the lady/' we said to
George, "to wish you to become a house-dweller,
which from your innate love of freedom and nature
you could never consent to do, or if you did you
would become like a caged birtl, restless and
unhappy. On the other hand, the lady could
hardly be expected to submit to the hardships
and wanderings of a gipsy life. And there can
be no doubt that if she did so, time and a little
reflection would produce an entire change in her
mind and feelings. An intuitive longing for her
old home, and the companionship of friends and
relatives would strengthen as the novelty of her
new life with you and her emotional impulses
gradually declined and lessened in power."
" You're right, sir,** said George. " What you
have said are the very things I have thought
a good deal about. I see that although it might
be very bright and sunny for a bit, it couldn't
last, and then we both might repent our folly and
become very miserable. So, sir, that's a settler ; I
shall refuse point blank to marry her, and so Til tell
her the nest time she comes here, which won't
be long first." George was firm in his resolve —
be snapped the chain asunder— the lady was com-
l 2
148 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
pelled to bow to the gipsy's decision, which, we
should imagine, time and reflection taught her was
after all a very wise one, George, with the other
gipsies left the locality for another, some forty
miles off, but we never heard that the lady who
had misplaced her affections ever paid him another
visit. So ended this affair, which is no doubt
sinking deeper in the waters of oblivion.
A GIPSY CHAIR-MENDER.
Ascending Pentonville Hill one winter morning,
we were accosted by a young woman carrying a
baby, and offering for sale pocket-combs and other
small articles she had in a basket. The habiliments
of the woman, and her occupation, as well as the
dark expressive eyes of the child, were so suggestive
of gipsydom that we asked her if she belonged to
the gipsy people.
" Not exactly, sir," was her reply ; " although
in a sense I do. I am the daughter not of gipsies,
but of parents who belong to Norfolk, and who
travel about the country with a van selling
brooms, brushes, baskets, mats and such like things.
One day in going our rounds we met with a
young gipsy man, a chair-mender, who married
me, and with whom I am now living in a house
not far from the Caledonian Road, and as my
husbands trade is a bit slack just now, I am
trying to sell my goods to make a trifle by."
From the answers she gave to some of our
questions respecting her husband and her home
life, we inferred that they were not the happiest
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC. 149
couple in the world. In fact she intimated that
more than once he had said to her, u You don't
belong to my race, but to the Gorjos, for whom
I have a great dislike ; I shall therefore leave you,
find another woman of my own race, with whom
I shall live proper, wander where I please, and
be a good deal happier than I am now." The
woman deemed to be in trouble, as she was
evidently fond of the gipsy. We subsequently
visited her residence, and found what she had told
U3 was true,
rne farmers widow and gipsy smith.
We have been credibly informed that but a few
years ago the widow of a Gloucestershire farmer fell
in love with a handsome gipsy man named Smith to
whom she got married in the church of the parish in
which she was living. It appears that the gipsy not
only made a very good husband, but learnt, under
the tuition of his wife, to become a very good,
practical sort of farmer.
But it was with him as it has nearly always
been with those gipsies who, after a life of un-
restrained freedom for many years, have taken to
house-dwelling, and in whom, however prosperous
they may have been, the old love for liberty, and
a predilection in favour of a wandering, restless, and
ever changing state of existence, have become so
strong that instances have been known in which
such gipsies have absented themselves for a time
from their new homes in order to spend it in the
tents and company of their own people, So it
150 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
was with Smith. His own race never appeared
in the locality where he lived without a visit from
him. In fact they had many inducements to go
there, because as a farmer he was in a position
to grant them many little privileges, and to add
to their bodily comforts by the gift of a little
straw, turnips and potatoes, as well as fodder for
their donkeys, &c. He sometimes remained two
or three days at a time with them, and had often
said that if anything happened to his wife he
should sell off and rejoin them, live as he used to
live, and die among them.
THE YOUNG MECHANIC AND GIPSY GIRL.
Referring again to gipsy women who have
married our men,, in some cases those with plenty of
money, and in others those who were mechanics,
cattle dealers, peasants, miners, and small shop-
keepers, we find, as in the case of gipsy men, the
same unquenchable longing to become once more
free from what they consider to be the fetters of
our mode of life, to return to their own people, so
that they may enjoy the wild kind of freedom in
which they were born and nurtured, and which
they consider to be the greatest charm of human
existence.
The following authentic case corroborates the
assertions just. made. In a southern suburb of
London some gipsies, a short time ago, lived in vans
and tents stationed on a piece of spare ground, for
which they paid a weekly rent. During the day-
time they plied their varied vocations amongst both
GIPSY WEDDINGS, BIETIIS, BAPTISMS, ETC 151
the rich and poor residing in the neighbourhood.
Belonging to this encampment was a young gipsy
woman of somewhat prepossessing appearance, for
whom a mechanic conceived a strong attachment,
which she reciprocated. At length, although witli
some difficulty, he prevailed upon her to become
his wife, not, however, without incurring the dis-
pleasure of the gipsies to whom she belonged -
This mechanic husband took his gipsy wife to a
very comfortable home, and provided her, as far as
his means would allow, with whatever she wanted.
Two or three children were the result of this mar-
riage, for whom the mother showed the most tender
affection, as well as love for her Gorjo husband.
But even this and all her other domestic advantages
were insufficient to make her thoroughly contented
and happy. Not many months had elapsed before a
predilection in favour of her old way of life showed
itself, to the deep regret of her husband, who
tenderly loved her. In fact it at length became so
strong and apparent, as the mechanic's own brother
told us, that the husband had very many reasons
to fear that on some evening or other when he
returned home from his labour, he should discover
that his wife with his children had gone to rejoin
her own people, which it appears she had often
hinted to him she was sure to do some day or
other. Whether she carried out this threat or not
we do not know ; nevertheless it affords a strong
proof (and there are other cases of a similar kind
that might be cited) of the preference gipsies feel
for that unrestrained liberty enjoyed by them in
their erratic mode of life.
152 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
When gipsy women marry men who are not of
their own tribe (unless it be by consent of the
parents, which is seldom the case), they violate one
of the principal laws of the gipsies, who regard it as
a crime altogether unpardonable. In some cases the
girls have been outlawed, and sometimes, we believe,
have never again been properly recognised either by
their parents or friends. Now and then, however,
they have been forgiven and restored to their
families.
The children of such marriages usually exhibit a
tendency in favour of the mothers former habits of
life, which she, by way of atoning for her crime,
takes care to encourage, and which, in the majority
of cases, the children adopt, and indulge in to the
end of life.
BIRTHS OP GIPSY CHILDREN.
" A time to be born and a time to die " is a
sentence uttered at a very remote period by Solomon,
reputed to have been, at least in his day, the wisest
of men, and has reference to two of the most im-
portant events of all animal existences — the entrance
into life, and exit out of it. But the surroundings
and circumstances connected with both throughout
the wide world of nature are widely dissimilar.
When a prince or the child of some great personage
is born the news must be telegraphed, or made
known in some other way, to the remotest parts of
the earth. Even those who move in much humbler
spheres of life, when a child is born, must in accord-
ance with fashion and their notions of respectability
publish the event through our newspapers, as if it
OIPST WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC, 153
in the smallest degree added to the importance of it,
or afforded any special interest to the public at large.
The birth of a gipsy child is not usually made
known by the means referred to; for who would
spare even a thought about an infant gipsy, born it
may be in a lane, under a hedge, or in the recess of
some forest. Such an event is no more heeded by
the majority of mankind than is the birth of a kitten
or of a puppy, indeed, in many cases not so much.
Little, however, as the birth of a gipsy child is
known and regarded by the outside world, it is an
event the gipsies look forward to with considerable
solicitude, increased no doubt by the difficulties
arising out of their own unsettled life.
Whatever advantages the gipsies deprive them-
selves of through their wandering habits, their
neglect of education, and want of proper mental
culture, they have always exhibited those qualities
which constitute the true paternal character.
Not long since three or four gipsy families were
encamped in a long narrow field near the river
Severn, where they were allowed to remain un-
disturbed in consequence of one of the women
expecting soon to become a mother. About eleven
o'clock one night she was suddenly taken in the
pains of child-birth. The husband hastened at once
to the nearest place to obtain medical assistance.
The doctor to whom he went happening to be from
horne^ the gipsy was directed to a midwife, whose
house he reached just about midnight To her he
told his tale, and earnestly begged of her to return
with him to the encampment,
She naturally objected to go at that late hour to
154 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
such a place and in company with such a man. The
gipsy became importunate, and seeing her timidity
and fear, assured the midwife she would suffer no
harm, that he would conduct her in safety to the
tent and back again to her own house. Affected by
his pleadings and anxiety, she consented to accom-
pany him, and both reached the tent just as the
midwife's services were specially required.
During the woman's stay with the gipsy wife the
husband paced up and down the other side of the
field in great suspense. When information was
given to him that "all was right," he hastened to
the tent, kissed his wife, and for the first time heard
the feeble wail of his own infant child. He then gave
the midwife a guinea, and conducted her safely back
to her home. We knew this woman well by sight,
and from her we received the foregoing information.
As the birth of a child is generally followed by
congratulations, and a little merry-making and
festivity, even in different grades of society both
high and low amongst ourselves, so the gipsies
sometimes celebrate such an event in their own
peculiar fashion. The bosh and the tumbo are brought
into requisition, as well as a little brandy, to make
them merry. Though no joy bells may ring, nor
festive board groan beneath the weight of costly viands
or sparkling wines by which to drink the health of
the little gipsy stranger, yet the parents practically
hail its appearance amongst them by saying
" Here's a health to thee, bright health to thee !
Though not with wine our cup is flowing ;
Wo pledge thee in the healthful breeze,
The inspiring breeze around us blowing."
GIPSY WEDDINGS, B TUTUS, BAPTISMS, ETC. 155
The wanderings of the gipsies necessarily expose
their women to many hardships and inconveniences
unknown to those who lead a settled life.
We once met a gipsy family in Wiltshire consist-
ing of the father, mother, and three children, the
youngest of whom was only ten days old, The
mother said she had that morning walked five miles ;
the poor creature looked pale and weak. They
subsequently pitched their tent in a very lonely,
damp lane bard by, where they rested for a time,
during which the husband made clothes-pegs for his
wife to sell. Unless some unexpected friend rendered
them a little assistance they must have fared badly,
as that part of the county was very thinly populated,
and so offered but a poor prospect to these gipsies
for the disposal of the clothes-pegs or of any oilier
article they might have for sale.
We know of instances in which gipsy women at
their confinements have received great attention and
many favours from humane and kind-hearted ladies,
who have supplied them with food, and even linen
proper and necessary for these occasions.
BAPTISMS OF GIPSY CHILDREN",
Under the old poor law every child of unmarried
gipsies belonged to the parish in which it was born,
and in times of poverty the parents were liable to
have their children taken from them and sent each
to its own parish. Under the new poor law, how-
ever, the child belongs to its mother's parish, Crabb
says "that gipsies are now very careful to have their
children baptized in the church of the parish to
156 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
which they belong, with the idea that thereby they
can lay claim to a little parochial relief, which they
usually term * settling the baby/ The sponsors are
generally members of the same family, and are
always treated with great respect." But even to
this rule we know of the following exception.
On a chilly morning in winter several mothers
had taken their children to the parish church of a
small town in Gloucestershire to be baptized, the
infant daughter of the rector being there for the
same purpose. Another clergyman, however, was
to perform the ceremony, and as it was about to
begin a gipsy woman of the Lock family, with an
infant girl on her arms, pressed eagerly towards the
font. Some of the other women eyed the gipsy
mother with disdain, and stepped aside as if afraid
they would be contaminated by her touch. Gently to
reprove them, the rector of the parish spoke kindly to
the gipsy, and told her to present her child, which was
baptized the first, and for which he stood as sponsor ;
then followed the baptism of his own child, and then
that of the children of the mothers referred to.
Five or six years after this we happened to pass
through a lane not far from where the above baptisms
had taken place. In this lane were three tents, most
of the occupants of which were absent. Sitting at
the opening of one of the tents was a gipsy woman,
and close by was her daughter, about six or seven
years old, full of life and frolicsomeness, for, like a
boyish-girl, she was amusing herself by taking long
leaps by the aid of a stout stick — a pastime in which
she had evidently frequently indulged. An inquiry
elicited from the mother that her name was Lock,
OIPST WEDDINGS, BIRTHS, BAPTJS.VS, ETC. 157
and that of her chdvo was C a Lock, i( Are you,
then, the mother whose child was baptized in the
church of W r about six years ago ? " we in-
quired
■ I am, my good gen'elnian, the very same and
nobody else."
"And that is the child who on that occasion
received the name of C a, and which at the
same time was given to the rector's daughter," we
remarked.
"You are quite right, mre" replied the gipsy
mother. 11 Never was there a nicer genelman than
the rector, nor a sweeter cherub than his child is.
She ia with her parents now at the rectory, which is
close by. But you see, sare 9 the two children, though
having the same name, are no more alike than
nothing. The one at the rectory ia like a little
fairy, or a flower, very delicate and gentle; the
other — the romping girl there — is the very opposite,
hardy as can be, and as rough as a Shetland pony.
But I'm happy to say she's always healthful like,
and I may tell you that although she's a little game-
some at times, she's a good girl, and loves her mother,
and I love her, aye, that I do with all ray heart, and
you know, mre, there's some comfort in that." We
subsequently ascertained that the gipsy woman's
description of the two children baptized in the same
church and at the same time was truthful to the
letter.
After the lapse of about twelve years we were
again in the same part of Gloucestershire, and while
standing at our garden gate inhaling the fresh
breeze from the river Severn, a young gipsy woman,
158 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
carrying a basket of tin-ware on her arm, saluted us
with a " Good-day, save" and with a " What will
you buy ? " " Nothing," was our reply. " May be,"
she said, " the good lady requires something — nice
pepper-box, nutmeg-grater, gravy-strainer, patty-
pan, kettle, iron-skewers, tin plate for the baby, tin-
mug, small saucepan, spoons or a colander — all our
own make, you know, sare, and all very useful. Do
buy something, for it's poor luck I've had to-day."
u And what is your name ? " we asked, " and
where are you camping ? "
" My name is Lock," she said, 66 and we are camp-
ing on the common about five miles from here."
" And is your first name C a, and did you
receive it at your baptism at the parish church of
W r ? " we asked.
" My first name is what you say, and I've heard
my mother tell our folks that I was baptized in the
church you mention, along with a lot more, and that
the good clergyman's daughter was baptized and
had the same name given to her as mine."
" Then you are the same girl I once saw, about
twelve years ago, in a lane near C 1, making
leaps with the aid of a stick as tall again as your-
self, and which seemed to be a very favourite
amusement of yours."
" Oh yes, sare" she said, " that was me, no doubt ;
aye, them was happy days, but they're gone, sare. I
often wish I could live 'em over again, but I can't do
that. My lot seems to be little else than hard work
in long walks, sometimes a heavy heart, and often
an empty pocket and stomach too. It's hard lines,
is it not, sare, for a young girl like me ? " and as she
GIPSY WEDDINGS,, BIRTHS, BAPTISMS, ETC 159
finished her interrogation she looked into our face
with a half saddened smile, and said again, u Do buy
something, sare; you can't do better, I give you my
word for that,"
We may here remark that this, to us, somewhat
interesting colloquy ended to the advantage of the
gipsy girl, as we exchanged a few shillings for some
of her tin- ware, which lightened both her heart and
her basket, indicated by very many * 4 thank yous,"
which she appeared to give with real sincerity and
gratitude.
Although the incidents just related may not appear
at first sight to have any direct connection with
the baptisms referred to, they nevertheless derive
a certain kind and degree of colouring from these
ceremonies, conspicuously seen in the high opinion
the gipsy mother and daughter had of the rector,
as well as in their own long residence in the same
locality, and by their ignoring those disreputable
methods to obtain a livelihood which are adopted by
so many of their own tribes.
After the baptism of the child C a, the rector
exercised a very beneficial influence over this gipsy
family. Even the girl we have mentioned said
nothing to lure us into a belief tbat by a super-
natural gift she could reveal to us the events of our
future life. She did not hint iu the slightest way
that she knew anything whatever about the practice
of fortune-telling. She spoke in no wheedling,
canting tone of voice so commonly used by many
women of her own race when they wish to accom-
plish any particular object.
There was much of candour in what she said ;
160 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
there was no exhibition of artfulness, but a seemingly
thorough straightforwardness and honesty of purpose
in her efforts to succeed in her vocation as a seller
of tin-ware. She made no attempt to deceive, or to
make a dupe of us by flattery or ingenious strata-
gems, which we are bound to confess are resorted to
by many of the women belonging to her own people.
We have ample authority for asserting that what
we have stated were traceable to the moral influences
of the clergyman, while those influences owed their
origin to the circumstances connected with the
baptisms of the children before adverted to, and
especially to that of the rector's own child and of
the gipsy infant who had received on that occasion
the same name.
During the last few years gipsies have attended
much more to baptism than their ancestors were
wont to do. For more than a hundred years after
their introduction into England the gipsies paid very
little regard to this religious rite. Crofton, in refer-
ring to this subject, tells us that there are two entries
in the register of St. Paul's Church, Bedford, as
follows : " 1567 * Robartt ane Egiptic bapt. same
daie" (viz. <k Marche xxxth daie"), and "1567
Aprill — * John ane Egiptic bapt. xxvth daie."
" Only three Roinani baptisms during the sixteenth
century have heretofore been placed on record — of
Joan, at Lime Regis, Dorsetshire, 14th of February
1558; of William, at Lanchester, Durham, 19th
February 1564; and of Margaret Bannister, at
Loughborough, Leicestershire, 2nd April 1581."
* There is some doubt as to the gipsy extraction of the
children referred to.
MOTHER LEATHIBHEAD (115 YEARS OLD),
CHAPTER IX.
DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES,
eory of a German philosopher— A human skeleton discovered
in a field — Longevity of gipsies — Funeral of Lepronia Lee —
A remarkable coincidence- — Grave of a gip&y scissors-
grinder — Curious account of a gipsy funeral — Death of a
patriarchal gipsy — A strange burial— Death and funeral of
a gipsy queen—A gipsy king — Strange notions of the
gipsies about the dead — Grief of gipsy mothers when a
child dies — The tomb of a gipsy king — The king of the
Orkney gipsies— Burial of the gipsy queen— An affecting
scene — Death and funeral of Matilda Stanley — Under the
yew tree — Burying valuable property.
* Our life's a journey in a winter's day ;
Some only break their fa*t t and so away ;
Others stay dinner ; and depart full- fed,
The deepest age but sups and goes to bed,"
H
162 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
We believe it was a German philosopher who,
some years ago, propounded a theory as to what
should be the average length of the life of a human
being, and of other animal existences, especially
those placed next to man in the scale of creation.
The basis of his theory was that the natural term of
life should be five times longer than the period
required to bring an animal body to a complete
and fully-developed condition. So that if twenty
years are necessary to form the man, death is not
a necessity under one hundred years of age, at
which time men may be supposed to die a natural
death.
Interesting, however, as this subject may be, it is
not our purpose to pursue it further than to remark
that while accidents, inherited diseases, indulgence
in bad habits, and many other causes shorten the
span of human life, yet on the other hand a due
regard to the simple requirements of the body, and
the more natural we are in our mode of living, the
more likely we are to be healthy, and to reach a
good old age.
Looking at the small number of gipsies that have
been and are now in England, and then at the
millions of men and women of our own race, we find
that a larger percentage of the former live to a
greater age than do those who live a civilized but a
more artificial life. May it not be assumed that this,
in a great measure, if not altogether, arises from the
life of the one being much more simple and natural
than that of the other. We think the truthfulness
of this supposition must be admitted.
The birth of a child at once points to another
KATUS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES. 163
event, whether near or very remote matters not,
and that is the death of the same body. Gold helps
to purchase much that may contribute to the ease
and comfort of human existence, and it may aid in
preventing many causes of misery and suffering, but
it cannot renew the lease of life. The strong and
the weak, the opulent and the poor, the learned and
ignorant, the peer and the peasant, the king and the
cggar, the gay, the witty, and the brave, the most
polite and refined, as well as the wandering gipsies,
must alike bow to the fiat which has gone forth,
** Thou shalt surely die."
Sickness and deaths of the gipsies are causes of
deep sorrow and lamentation among them, of which
we shall give some instances in different parts of
this chapter. We may here observe that although
gipsies show much respect and affection fur the
memory of departed members of their own tribe,
there was a time when they paid but little attention
to the sacred rites of burial. The roadside, the
lonely lane, the field, and forest were in many cases
the receptacles of their mortal remains.
One morning, when but a youth, as we were
strolling along a narrow lane in a secluded part of
Yorkshire, we happened to peep through a gate into
a small field, and there saw, a short distance off,
some one with spade in hand removing the soil for
some purpose we did not quite understand. Just as
we reached the man at work, he had uncovered a
human skeleton, with not a particle of flesh on it,
Ivingat full length, not less than six feet long, and
evidently that of a once powerful man. The bones
were put into a willow-basket, where they remained
M 2
164 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
until the man who had found them obtained some
loads of gravel which were required for some special
purpose. When this was done the bones of the
skeleton were put into the hole from which the
/, ravel had been taken, then covered over, and there
we believe they have remained ever since without
being disturbed. Of course this discovery gave rise
to many conjectures as to whose skeleton it could be,
but no clue could be obtained to solve the mystery.
It was, however, the general opinion of the villagers
that the remains were those of a gipsy man, but
whether he had met with foul play or had died of
some disease they could not tell. One thing that
favours the idea of his dying of some fatal sickness,
and being buried as described, is that in this locality
the gipsies were in the habit of encamping.
Not only to the rite of baptism but to that also
of the burial of their dead the gipsies attach much
more importance than they formerly did. We shall
now refer to a few instances of the
LONGEVITY OF GIPSIES,
respecting which we shall give some information we
have derived from an interesting volume entitled,
' Gipsy Tents.' The author says :
" On the north side of Little Budworth church-
yard, near Delamere Forest, Cheshire, there is, or
was, a large stone on the ground, bearing inscrip-
tion, 6 Here lies, in hope of a joyful resurrection, the
body of Henry Lovett, who departed this life the
27th day of January, 1744. Aged 85 years. He
died a Protestant.' "
DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES. 165
c 'In Turvey churchyard, Bedfordshire, is an epi-
taph in memory of James Smith (a gipsy), who died
May the 10th, 1822, aged 105 years, on whom the
Rev. Legh Richmond wrote the following lines:
" 1 Here lies Jim, the wandering gipsy,
Who was sometimes sober, hut oftener tipsy ;
But with the world he seemed to thrive,
For he lived to the age of one hundred and five/ H
C( Tinkler Billy Marshall, who was horn at
^irkmichael, Ayrshire, in 1672, died at Kirkcud-
k*~Sght, 28th November, 1792, at the age of 120
F^arS."
"Anne Day, who was buried at Arlsey, Bedford-
shire, in March, 1799, attained to the age of 108
^^ars."
"Henry Boswell, reputed king of the gipsies,
^Vas buried at Ickleford, near Hitchin, Herts*
-^ged 90."
"King Joseph Lee died in 1844 at Beaulieu,
Hants, at the age of 86 years. Some years before
he had given his grandchild (Charity) one hundred
spade guineas and much silver plate for dower."
Mr. Crabb, in his 1 Gipsies* Advocate/ tells us of
**a woman of the name of B who lived to the
reputed age of 120 years, and up to that age was
accustomed to sing her song very gaily/' He also
says that ** in his tent at Launton, Oxfordshire, died
in the year 1830, more than a hundred years of age,
James Smith, called by some the king of the gipsies.
By his tribe he was looked up to with the greatest
166 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN. 1
respect and veneration. His remains were followed m
to the grave by his widow, who is herself more 1
than a hundred years old, and by many of his 1
children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and ]
near relatives, and by several individuals of
other tribes.
u At the funeral the widow tore her hair, uttered
the most frantic exclamations, and begged to be
allowed to throw herself on the coffin, that she
might be buried with her husband/'
Lovell, the gipsy scissors-grinder referred io in m>
the second chapter, died at the age of 95 years, and
his wife at about the same age.
Myrick Lock and his wife, who are buried in«=an
Hillsley churchyard, Gloucestershire, lived to be— » c
respectively 99 and 101 years old. These were th^^e
progenitors of the Locks referred to in the las*~-*t
chapter.
Some time since we had some conversation with a^^ 8
gipsy woman of the name of Buckland, then liviug^^?
at the outskirts of the forest of Dean, who told v^m n
she was 85 years old, and had that day walke<^3
about five miles to see the doctor, as she didn't 44 fee"-?
quite well."
We have been informed on good authority th&~£
some years since a gipsy woman, 104 years old, wajsf
an inmate of one of the workhouses in Essex.
About eight years since a woman, of gipsy birth,
named Leatherhead, died at Tring, Hertfordshire,
at the advanced age of 115 years. She was very
DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES. 167
active, and a hard worker almost to the end of her
life, and retained the use of her sight and hearing to
a marvellous degree. She had been for some time a
house-dweller, and had worked in the harvest field
not many weeks before she died.
It is reported that at Balsham, Cambridgeshire,
old Charley Gray, a gipsy, chose a grave close to
the church door, because he thought it would be
lively on Sundays when the folks gossipped there.
THE FUNERAL OP LEPROXIA LEE,
a great favourite of her tribe, who some time ago died
near Ipswich, will, we think, be read with interest.
m The greater portion of the tribe were at Kirton
Church at the time of her death, and when it
became known the mourning and lamentations were
dreadful The deceased was interred in Kirton
churchyard, the procession being headed by a hearse,
after which followed the two sisters and cousins of
the deceased, dressed in white muslin corded with
white silk, their heads covered with white veils
reaching almost to the ground. The men wore
black silk hatbands tied with white ribbons, white
gloves and neckties.
** The women of the tribe were in deep mourning ;
many hundred persons came from all parts of the
district to witness the procession. The greatest
decorum was preserved throughout, and shortly after
their return from the grave the members of the tribe
separated for their various destinations. The tribe
appeared to be in affluent circumstances, and con-
sisted of the Lees, Youngs, and Smiths/'
168 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
A REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE.
It was early spring time when, not many years
ago, we visited some gipsy families encamped not
far from where we were at that time residing. In
our conversation with one of the gipsy women,
who was about fifty years of age, and in personal
appearance a model of neatness and cleanliness (at
least, for a gipsy), we happened to refer to the
funeral alluded to, and to mention the name of the
deceased gipsy girl. Language fails to describe
the intense emotion which was produced in this
woman when we uttered the name of Lepronia Lee.
The effects of an electric shock could hardly have been
more perceptible. The red tinge of her cheeks seemed *
to pale, and looking up into our face with her dark,
lustrous eyes, said excitedly, " Will you read the
paper to us, good gentleman? Do, if you please
sare." Before we began, two or three gipsy women
from the adjoining tents came to listen. The paper
alluded to was the cutting from the newspaper con-
taining the account of the funeral just described,
and which we happened to have in our pocket-book
at the time.
Before we finished reading the auditors were
visibly affected, tears stood in their eyes, and the
woman who had made the request for us to read
exclaimed with strong, but suppressed emotion,
u Ah, sare, that was my dear daughter you have
been reading about Oh, how I miss my darling !
I shall never get over my trouble, I know I shan't.
She was such a good girl ; it seems very hard, and
DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES, I GO
although she may be better oft*, I can't help grieving
about her," and the bereaved mother wept bitterly.
In a few minutes a number of gipsies had gathered
to the tent to listen to the second reading of this
account of the funeral referred to. The women held
their faces in their hands and sobbed aloud, the
children looked grave and concerned, and the men
stood with their heads uncovered, as if to do
honour to the memory of her nearly all of them had
known, and some of them had loved so well. Every
member of that gipsy group seemed to share the
sorrow that was felt by the mother and the two
sisters of Lepronia Lee.
Is it not evident from the above statements that
to say " all gipsies are not only rudTE and ignorant,
but wanting in natural affection," is a libel upon
them as a race f a
A GIPSY CHIEF,
We once visited the churchyard of the village of
K in Hertfordshire which is the resting-place
of a gipsy chief, A humble stone, bearing a short
inscription, marks the spot. We were informed that
his funeral was attended with more than customary
honours — the coffin was a very costly one, a crown,
sceptre, and other insignia of gipsy royalty being
placed upon it. He was borne on the shoulders of
six men of his own fraternity to his grave, which
is often the meeting spot of many of his survivors,
who still cherish the remembrance of the name and
deeds of their departed chief.
These meetings, however, usually terminate by a
visit to the village inn, where the gipsies sometimes
170 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
drink to excess, and become, not only convivial, but
a little troublesome before starting for their several
destinations.
GRAVE OF A GIPSY SCISSORS-GRINDER.
In passing through Yatton, a village in Somerset-
shire, some time ago, we went into the churchyard
where lie the bodies of Isaac Jowles and his wife.
Old Isaac, though not gipsy born, married a gipsy
woman, with whom he lived to the end of her life.
At the head of her grave is a stone, having on it the
following inscription, written by her husband, who
survived her but a short time —
m Here lies Merrily Jowles,
A beauty bright,
She left Isaac Jowles,
Her heart's delight."
CURIOUS ACCOUNT OP A GIPSY FUNERAL.
This appears in a number of ' Notes and Queries *
of June 6th, 1857. " A gipsy was ill of pleurisy,
and was bled twice ; when the assistant surgeon went
he was sent about his business (gipsies object to
blood letting). He died, having expressed a wish
to be buried in his best clothes, which consisted of
a velveteen coat with half-crowns shanked for buttons,
and a waistcoat with shillings for buttons ; but the
woman who lived with him ran away with them, so he
was buried in his second best, without a shroud, and
in the best of coffins ; he had a hearse with ostrich
plumes, and fifty gipsies, men and women, followed."
What afterwards took place is thus described by
DEATB8, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF OIPSIES. 171
an eye witness: "As soon as the gipsies returned
to the encampment they burnt his fiddle. A right
good fiddler he was too, and niany's the time I've
danced to him at our wakes ; and then they burnt a
lot o' beautiful Witney blankets, as good as new;
and then they burnt a sight o* books, for he was a
scholar — very big books they was too. I specially
minds one of 'em, the biggest of the hull lot, A
book of jawgraphy, as 'd tell you the history o' all
the world, you understand, sir, and was chock full
o* queer outlandish pictures ; and then there was his
grindstone, that he used to go about the country
with grinding scissors, and razors, and such like ;
they couldn't burn him, so they carried him two
miles, and then hove him right into the Severn;
that's true, for I was one as helped 'em to carry it.' f
DEATH OF A PATRIARCHAL GIPSY,
The following account appeared in the Stafford-
shire Advertiser about eight years ago, ** Major
Boswell, who for the last seven years has made a
tent on the Stone Road, Longton, his principal place
of abode, died on Sunday, at the advanced age of
108 years. The body is Maid out' in characteristic
gipsy style. He * lies in state ' on a bed on the
ground, covered with a white sheet, and a tuft of
grass on the chest. The old man has not a wrinkle
on his face, had lost only three teeth, and never
consulted a doctor during his long earthly pilgrim-
age. He was twice married, and had by his second
wife seventeen children, amongst whom he num-
bered fifty-nine grandchildren,"
172
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
A STRANGE BURIAL.
The following note on Romani funeral rites was
communicated to * Notes and Queries * by Mr. John
E. Cussans, May 15th, 1869. "A labourer told me
that, about forty years ago, an old gipsy woman
died near Littlebury, Essex. The body was swathed
in clothes, and laid upon trestles by the encampment.
Over the head and feet two long hazel twigs were
bent, the ends thrust into the ground. From these
hung two oil lamps, which were kept burning all
night, while two women, one on either side of the
corpse, watched, sitting on the ground. The follow-
ing day the uncoffined body was buried in Littlebury
churchyard by order of the local authorities; not,
however, without great opposition on the part of
the deceased's friends, who wished to bury her else-
where."
DEATH AND FUNERAL OF A OIPST QUEEN.
The name of this notorious woman was Margaret
Finch, who was born at Sutton, 1631, and was buried
at Beckenham in October, 1740, at the great age
of 109 years. After travelling all over England,
she finally settled at Norwood, in Surrey, where she-
was commonly known as Peggy Finch, queen of"" -
the gipsies. Being very adroit in the practice o^
fortune-telling, by palmistry and other methods
she attracted great numbers of curious visitors, bj^
whom she made a considerable amount of money -
She appears to have been very fond of snuff anc=3
DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES. 173
London porter, and during the last eleven years of
W life had a habit of sitting on the ground with
her chin resting on her knees, and generally with
a pipe in her mouth, her constant companion being
a small dog, of which she was very fond. In con-
sequence of sitting so many years in the cramped-
up position referred to, her sinews became so con-
tracted that when she died they could not straighten
her body, and therefore were compelled to inclose
it in a deep square box, in which she was buried.
Alalcolm says, "Her remains were conveyed in a
hearse, attended by two mourning coaches, to
Beckenham, in Kent, where a sermon was preached
on the occasion to a great concourse of people who
assembled to witness the ceremony,
** We are informed that Bridget, Margaret's niece,
x^igned in her stead. When she died she was worth
«tbove £1000 — was buried at Dulwich 6th August,
1768."
DEATH AND FUNERAL OF A GIPSY KINO.
The gipsies and their life, with all that is romantic
about them, have not only furnished themes for the
pen of the historian, and subjects for the pencil of
the artist, but even poets, by their fertile effusions
elegance of language, have sung the praises of
ly of them in the ideal regions of greatness,
dignity, and royalty.
The following verses* are part of an elegy
written for the king of the gipsies, Charles Lee, who
died in a tent near Lewes, August 16, 1832, aged
• From the Mirror, vol. xx., p. 285.
174 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
74. He was buried in St. Ann's churchyard in
presence of a thousand spectators :
" Hurrah ! hurrah ! — pile up the mould !
The sun will gild its sod ; —
The sun — for three score years and ten
The gipsy's idol God !
O'er field and fen, by waste and wild,
He watch'd its glories rise,
To worship at that glorious shrine
The Spirit of the skies.
«*«*♦*
With glow worm lamp and incense cull'd
Fresh from the bean field's breath ;
And matin lark, and vesper thrush,
And honey-hoarded heath ; —
A throne beneath the forest boughs,
Fann'd by the wild bird's wing ;
Of all the potentates on earth,
Hail to the Gipsy King."
CURIOUS NOTIONS OF TI1E GIPSIES ABOUT THE DEAD.
This people have a singular custom of burning all
the clothes belonging to any deceased member of
their tribe, with the straw and litter of his or her
tent. Whether this arises from fear of infection,
from superstition, or because it is simply a custom
handed down amongst them from generation to
generation, we have not been able positively to learn.
The following story is curious, interesting, and well
authenticated, our informant being one of our own
sisters, who was both an eye and ear witness of what
we are about to refer to.
It appears that in the month of November, 1873,
a gipsy family, consisting of an aged woman, her
son, his wife, their daughter and three sons, pitched
DEATHS, MINERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES. 175
their tents very near a farm house in the parish of
W , Yorkshire, where they were permitted to
remain for three weeks by the farmer, who not only
had confidence in their honesty, but gave them
straw, milk, broth, potatoes, and other things during
the whole time they were there.
At this period the farmer's infant child was
dangerously ill. The occupants of the tents often
enquired after its welfare and went to see it. The
child, however, died, and the gipsies when they
beard of its death seemed to feel great sympathy
for the bereaved parents, On the same day, when
our sister was returning from the farm house to
her own home, she met the gipsy daughter, about
eighteen years old, who asked after the child, for
fihe was not yet aware of its death. When told
it was dead, " Oh ! dear " she exclaimed, ** I am
very, very sorry, poor dear sweet babe, I should eo
much like to see it. You know, my good lady, the
*ooni where the corpse lies will be full of beautiful
bright angels, because she was so young, so pure,
ind bo innocent." She then asked, H What are they
joing to do with its clothes ? *
** They may probably keep them in remembrance
>f it,** said our sister.
** That would be very wrong, 1 ' said the gipsy
^ What would you do with them?" she was
isked,
u We should burn them," said the gipsy, very
emphatically. " Our people always do, it is our
custom ; we don't think it right to keep the clothes."
She however assigned no reason for this custom,
176 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
which, as before intimated, is everywhere observed
by this wandering race, especially when death is
caused by fevers.
Gipsies, as well as other people, often feel poig-
nant grief when they lose their friends or children
by death. " My little brother died, sir, about a
month ago," said a gipsy boy to us in answer to
some enquiries we were making about the boy's
family, whose name was Carter, and who were
tenting at the time near Bristol.
" Is your mother now at the tent ? " we asked*
" Oh, no, sir," replied the boy ; " mother's gone to
1 the village to try to sell some clothes-pegs, as my
father makes; but she's very bad, sir, and almost
worn to a shadow, all through fretting about the death
of my brother. She hasn't eaten anything scarcely
for a whole month, and she is got so thin, and 'is
altered so much you would hardly know her," said
the boy, who seemed to be much affected by his own
simple story of his brother's death, and by his
mother's grief for the loss she had sustained.
THE TOMB OF A GIPSY KING.
The following interesting information respecting
the above has just been communicated to us by the
rector of the parish in which the gipsy is buried.
It appears that originally the tomb of Inverto
Boswell was an altar tomb in the churchyard at
Calne in Wiltshire, and that when the church was
restored by the predecessor of the present rector,
the altar tomb was done away with, and the two
side stones with inscriptions were built into the
DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES. Ill
tl
:
6<
outside wall of the south porch. Our informant goes
on to say, ** I have been told that my predecessor
disliked the gipsies, and bad no desire to preserve
the tomb of one who is traditionally regarded in
Calne as king of the gipsies, but the stones are much
more likely to be preserved from destruction, and to
be noticed in their present position, than if they had
been left in the tomb,
<f I am informed by old inhabitants that the tradi-
tion in Calne is that Inverto Boswell was king of
the gipsies, and that for many years after his death
gipsies assembled in Calne, and performed some sort
of rites, supposed to be religious ones, at his grave ;
the rites are believed to have been of a heathenish
character ; of all this there is no indication in the
inscription of the tomb*
" There are two stones, one from each side of the
mb, and between them there is a carved stone
representing a circular wreath inclosing a rearing
horse with flowing mane and tail. One inscription
is as follows : — * Under this tomb lieth the body of
Itn\rft> BosweH, son of Henry and Elk. Boswuli, who
departed this life the 8th day of February, 1774,
aged 36. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken
away ; blessed be the name of the Lord/
"The inscription on the other stone is almost
the same ; but instead of the Scriptural text there is
ne of the usual religious verses. So far as I can
see there is nothing on the stone to confirm the
tradition,*'
We may here observe that expensive tombs, such
as the one described, are rarely erected in memory
of gipsies; but that wherever one of them exists we
N
178 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
may assume that the deceased had either wished it
to be erected, and left sufficient money for that pur-
pose, or that having, as king or chief, distinguished
himself by deeds of heroism so much admired by the
gipsies, his survivors have at great expense had
the monument placed over his remains, in order to
show their respect for his memory. There can be
little doubt that Inverto Boswell's tomb had been
erected for one, and probably for both reasons we
have just assigned.
THE KING OP THE ORKNEY GIPSIES.
The following information appeared in the Daily
Chronicle j March 14, 1884. " William Nowland,
the king of the Orkney Gipsies, has just died, at the
advanced age of 102 years, the record of his age
being known from the fact that he was born in the
island of Westray. The deceased was a remarkably
strong man, retaining all his faculties to the end,
and was notorious among various gipsy tribes for
the many hard fights he had to go through for
what he considered the honour of his family. His
funeral, which took place in the parish churchyard
of Stromness, was a peculiar one in many respects.
The attendants were mostly relatives, prominent
among whom was his widow, a gipsy over ninety
years of age, and who, during the time the clergy-
man was offering up prayer over the grave of her
departed husband, coolly smoked her pipe, which
was passed round to the other female mourners.
" A remarkable fact in connection with the Orkney
gipsies is that a death amongst them is hardly ever
DEATHS, FUNERALS, AND EFITAFUS OF GirSlES. 179
known by the general public, it being apparently
their habit to keep such events secret. This is only
the second burial known to have taken place within
the memory of the present generation."
BURIAL OF THE GIPSY QUEEN*
" The gipsy queen of the United States, Garni iu
GefFerie, has lately died, and was buried at Dayton,
Ohio. From all parts of the country members of
her tribe came to attend the ceremony, and on
the evening before the burial took place about
1500 gipsies were camping outside the town. Im-
mediately after her death the queen was embalmed,
and then brought over to Dayton, where her tribe
own considerable possessions in land, as well as a
large piece of ground in the Woodland cemetery,
where the former king and queen of the gipsies are
buried. The funeral service was conducted in the
ordinary way by the clergyman and church choir.
The coffin was then enclosed in a large stone box
at the bottom of the grave, beside the coffin of the
queen's daughter, who died ten years ago. When
the heavy stone lid was being placed on to the
coffins, the sons and daughters of the deceased
jumped howling into the grave, sobbing and kissing
the wood. It was only after some time that they
could be persuaded to come out of the grave. Then
the stone lid was fastened down and covered with
earth. The queen's monument, which is to be
erected on the grave, will be a life-sized figure of
her late majesty. Thus does civilization spread evon
among gipsies/' — Pall Mall Gazette^ June f>, 1884.
n 2
180 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
AN AFFECTING SCENE.
The following information was given to us by a
gentleman living at the time in the town of Sudbury,
and who was acquainted with all the details and
circumstances of the painful occurrence we are about
to relate. It appears that not long since a gipsy
man and his wife were tenting in a lane not far
from Sudbury in Suffolk, Special business called the
gipsy man away to another district, where he was
detained four or five weeks. During his absence his
wife was seized with a severe illness, and being poor
and helpless, the parish authorities had her removed
to the Sudbury workhouse, where she was attended
by the doctor, and supplied with everything neces-
sary under the circumstances. She however died in
a few days, and was buried near the wall of the
churchyard adjoining the workhouse.
As no one, not even the wife, knew of the where-
abouts of the husband, no lettef could be sent to
acquaint him 'with what had taken place. On his
return, the painful fact of his wife's death was made
known to him. He hastened at once to the church-
yard, and when her grave was pointed out to him»
he stood over it and wept as if his heart would have
broken. His mental agony became so intense that
he threw himself full length upon the grave, and
sobbed like a child. After this outburst of sorrow
he gradually recovered from his prostration of mind
and body ; he then took his pocket-knife, and with
it cut a deep cross on one of the bricks of the wall at
the head of his wife's grave, so that he might always
TlfS, FUNERALS, AND EPITAPHS OF GIPSIES. 181
now where her remains were buried. Although
lis simple cross was the only monument he could
lord to leave behind him as a future guide to him-
slf, as well as a memento of affection for his wife,
3 subsequently showed, by frequently wending his
ay to her grave, that lie not only felt the loss he
ad sustained, but that he cherished the memory of
er of whom he had been so unexpectedly deprived.
DEATH AND FUNERAL OF MATILDA STANLEY.
According to an account given in the Christian
Vorld of October 4, 1878, it would appear that
[atilda Stanley, called the queen of the American
ipsies, died on the 4 previous February , and was
uried a fortnight afterwards at Dayton, Ohio, in the
resence of 20,000 spectators. " The body of the
ite queen was embalmed in such a manner as still to
*tain the natural aspect of life. The body was
laced in a vault, and each day the reigning king,
evi * Stanley,' or some member of the queen's
inily, visited the spot, and strewed the body with
loice flowers/'
UNDER THE YEW TREE,
A few years since we were informed by a gentle-
ian residing in a village in Gloucestershire that a
lort time previously a gipsy man had died in his
snt, pitched in a lane close by. His survivors
ishing to show all due respect, and to do honour to
lis departed member of their tribe, applied to the
lergyman of the parish to allow a vault to be made
nder the porch of the church in which to bury the
182 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
deceased, and for this privilege offered a large wrf*
of money ; but the request, for some reason, coulcf
not be granted. The gipsies, however, succeeded in
having the body interred under a wide-spreading
yew tree standing in the churchyard, for which they
unbegrudgingly paid an unusually high fee.
In choosing this place of interment, the idea of
the gipsies appears to have been that the yew tree
would afford partial protection to the departed from
the severe cold and storms of winter, as well as a
cooling shade from the intense heat of summer.
It is by no means an uncommon thing for gipsies
to have the graves of their deceased friends and
relatives kept in good order, and flowers planted on
. them, for which they often pay five shillings yearly
to the sextons of village churchyards.
Leland, in his work * English Gipsies,' says he
was given to understand " that when gipsy men or
women die, their friends don't care to hear their
names again — it makes them too sad; so they
are changed to other names." The same author also
refers to a form of respect for the departed among
gipsies, to the effect that they bury some object of
value with the corpse. He was informed that in the
coffin of one gipsy a new beautiful pair of shoes
were put ; " also " that three thousand pounds were
hidden with ojie of the Chilcotts ; " and that " some
of the Stanleys were buried with gold rings on
their fingers.";
A OTP OP GOLD TEA.
CHAPTER X,
BW8, GIPSIES, MONET, VANITY, GRAND BALLS, ETC.
ointe in which Jews and gipsies agree and differ — Gipsy specu-
lators — Money-makers, and misers — Wandsworth gipsies —
A cup of gold tea — An eccentric gipsy woman — Gipsy
vanity — Arnold Smith, a gipsy horse-dealer — Silver coin
shanked for buttons— Gipsy ball in a field — Gay ami
costly droflOOB and jewellery, &<\ — An intruder threatened
with a gipsy castigation — Two gipsy girls and the
jeweller — Gipsy notions of pawnshops — Borrowed money —
Law of honour, and how carried out.
We are poor we must confess,
But wo lovo life none the less \
Others may havo hoarded wealth :
We can boast of rosy health :
Whenever we please, we roam or rest,
Contented at homo like a bird in its nest.
184 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
As some theorists believe the gipsies to be of
Israelitish origin, we shall now endeavour to show
how far this view can be supported. Although the
Jews were at one time a favoured and mighty
nation, and are now scattered over the face of the
earth, they believe that at some future time they
will be gathered again to their own land, where they
will live in peace, have their own kings, and be
governed by their own laws.
The gipsies have a similar tradition, pointing
back many hundreds of years, to the effect that, like
the Jews, they were also a great nation, had their
own rulers, laws, and system of government ; and
that although now dispersed far and wide, and like
the offspring of Ishmael, living u with their hand
against every man, and every man's hand against
them," yet the time will arrive when they will be-
come as great a people as they formerly were.
Equally with the Jews, and in spite of the climate
in which they dwell, and mixing as they do with all
nations with whom they are compelled to transact
business; and affected, as they must be, by the
customs, religious and political influences of these
nations — they nevertheless retain their nationality
and physical characteristics, by which they are easily
distinguished from the rest of mankind. In the
above particulars the histories of the Jews and
gipsies are strikingly similar.
In pursuing this subject we discover, however,
that in many other respects they are widely different.
The majority of Jews live in towns and cities ; are
men of great commercial enterprise and activity ;
many of them are marvellously successful as dealers
JEWS, GIPSIES, MONEY, VANITY, BALLS, ETC. 185
in most costly merchandise, and in some cases are
immensely rich. They have among them men of the
highest classical attainments; many eminent com-
poser^ musicians, artists, poets, philosophers, phy-
sicians, astronomers, mathematicians, philologists,
and linguists. Some of them have attained, not
only municipal honours, but great popularity as
members of our Parliament.
The gipsies, on the other hand, are dwellers in
tents pitched in lanes, by the woodside, or on
commons, and often on small plots of waste land.
Their commercial transactions are confined to
buying and selling horses, and in many cases to
small articles for domestic use, which they themselves
manufacture and sell. They need no ledgers, neither
do they employ clerks to keep their accounts for
them* These British nomads occupy no gilded
mansions ; they retain no obsequious menials to do
their bidding; they know nothing of the etiquette of
fashionable life, but are satisfied with the meagre
accommodation of a frail tent, or a small, inexpensive
cart or van. We are not aware that the list of
gipsy families includes any philosopher that ever
attained any great eminence, or that it numbers wiy
one who ever distinguished himself by his knowledge
of the fine arts, or of popular science ; so far the
histories of the Jews and gipsies are dissimilar.
The correctness of the foregoing statements is
borne out by Roberts in his book 4 The Jews and
the Gypsies/ where he says : " The history of the
Jews (as dispersed among the countries professing
Christianity) exhibits one of the most, nay the most,
revolting pictures of horrid cruelties that is to be
186 OUB GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
found in the annals of the world. Nothing less than
the hand of Him who had decreed their continuance
as a distinct people could possibly have maintained
them such, in every nation, in spite of attempts to
extirpate them all.
" Though the gipsies have few, if any, of those
peculiarities which distinguish and tend to preserve
the Jews a distinct people, they have not withstood
those excessive and almost constant persecutions
which the Jews have done.
" The former shun society and disregard wealth.
They neither provoke hy their intrusion, nor tempt
to oppression by their great possessions. They have,
therefore, escaped with comparatively few trials.
They are contented with poverty, and they flee from
contention. The Jews, on the contrary, in every
country, dread obscurity and poverty. They flock
to the most populous cities, to the most crowded
marts ; they covet and pursue wealth with the most
earnest and ceaseless activity."
GIPSY SPECULATORS, MONEY-MAKERS, AND MISERS.
Wide, however, as is the difference in the facilities
available to Jews and gipsies for the exercise of the
commercial element, there are some instances in which
gipsies have accumulated property, especially on the
Continent, as publicans, speculators, and artizans.
We shall, however, refer to those gipsy men only
who have done so in our own country.
Within the last thirty years some gipsies lived in
a number of tents pitched on a plot of waste ground
in the parish of Wandsworth, for which they paid
JEWS, GIPSIES, MONEY, VANITY, It ALLS, ETC. 187
little or no rent The authorities, after many fruit-
less efforts, at last succeeded in dislodging these
unprofitable tenants, and then offered this piece of
land for sale by public auction. One of the ejected
gipsy men being the highest bidder, the plot of
ground referred to became his property. Not many
years ago we happened to be in that locality, when
a row of small cottages was pointed out to ns, which
we understood belonged to the gipsy, who had them
erected upon the piece of land ho had purchased as
described, and for which, as the landlord, he received
the rente. Not very far from this place were two
beautiful villas, said to be the property of another
member of this tribe of gipsies.
We are acquainted with a gipsy man of the Smith
family, who about ten years ago told us he was worth
a thousand pounds. Although gipsies, as a people,
have no confidence in banks, we know another gipsy
who had about two thousand pounds in one of the
Bristol banks ; and we have been credibly informed
that a gipsy horse-dealer had a floating capital of
nearly three thousand pounds. Not very long since
i t was reported in the newspapers that the van of one
of the Boswells, while in a lane in Kent, was broken
into during his temporary absence, and sixteen
hundred pounds and a large number of spade guineas
extracted therefrom.
A CUP OF GOLD TEA.
On one occasion some gipsies and men of our own
race were drinking together in a public-house in
Dorsetshire. Some of these men boasted al»mt their
188 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAUf.
money, when one of the gipsies told the landlady
to supply him quickly with hoiling water, a tea-pot,
tea-cup and saucer, sugar and milk. She did so.
The gipsy then put half-a-pint of sovereigns into the
tea-pot, poured the boiling water upon them, and
after a few minutes filled the cup with the hot liquid,
added sugar and milk to it, and then drank it off.
" Now then," said he, turning to the company, " is
there another man here who can make himself, as
I have done, a cup of gold tea ? " We may here
observe that a half-pint measure will contain more
than 250 sovereigns.
AN ECCENTRIC MISERLY GIPSY.
Some gipsies are partial to a two-fold isolated life,
as instances are known in which both men and
women of these wandering tribes have preferred,
hermit-like, to live alone. These are often of
miserly habits, and hoard up valuable property to a
great amount, which they sometimes keep about
their persons, or hide in some other convenient
place.
We have been informed by an old gipsy woman,
named Jones, that some years ago a female of her
own tribe resided in a cave made in an embankment
of sand near one of the small towns of Hertfordshire,
and that during her lifetime she was very industrious,
but of singular habits, and so eccentric that she
would never live with any of her own people, nor
with any one else, but at all times preferred being
alone. Many members of her tribe suspected she
had money concealed somewhere, but she would
JEWS, GIPSIES, MONEY, VANITY, BALLS, ETC. 189
never trust anyone with the secret At length she
was seized with illness, the news of which reached
some of the gipsies, who requested old Mrs. Jones,
who knew her well, to go to the cave to look after
her. She, however, died in a few days, and was
buried at great expense in the churchyard of the
parish in which she died. After this the cave was
searched, and her clothes were examined, and as the
gipsies expected, some profitable discoveries were
made. Silver tea-pots, tea-spoons, and other valuable
articles were found, carefully concealed in long holes
made in the sides of this sandy cave ; and sewn up
within the lining of an old dress in which the gipsy
had died was a great number of sovereigns, which
she always carried about with her. " In fact " said
our informant, "she died rich, and I know it's true,
for I was the one that laid her out, and examined
the old dress myself,"
As there was no mention of any will having been
t i jade and left by the deceased gipsy as to the dis-
posal of the property just mentioned, we naturally
inferred that Mrs. Jones secured at least the best
share of it, especially of the gold coin, and had the
most valid of all reasons for saying, " her death to
me was gain/'
(JIPSY VANITY.
The following story, given on the authority of a
great friend of the gipsy race, shows not only the
duplicity which gipsies sometimes practise on others,
but also their love of finery : M A gipsy woman
obtained a hundred pounds from two ladies by pre-
tending that she could, by her art in conjuration,
190 OUIi GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
double the money, and return them two hundred
instead of one hundred pounds. Although these
ladies had no other security than the bare promise
of the gipsy that she would do so, yet they gave
up the one hundred pounds as she desired. With
this money the gipsy bought a beautiful horse, a
new saddle, a bridle, a silver-mounted whip, a long
riding-habit, and a broad-brimmed beaver hat with
a feather in it, and thus dressed was often seen
riding about the counties of Hants and Dorset."
As a people the gipsies are very fond of gay
colours — the more glaring they are the better they
seem to like them. Rings and trinkets of various
kinds, but sometimes of questionable quality, are
worn by them in great profusion. At a lecture we
gave at Great Somerford in Wiltshire, some time
since, were three gipsies — a man and two women —
who, having paid the highest charge for admission,
occupied three seats in the front row. On the
fingers of the left hand of one of the women were
not less than twelve gold-looking rings.
We have read of a gipsy girl who obtaineda gold
chain and locket and some valuable plate from a
young lady by promising to make the gentleman the
lady loved love her ardently in return. She not only
failed to do so, but fled to another district with her
ill-gotten booty, and the lady was compelled to con-
fess to her parents what she had done. The gipsy,
however, was pursued, and found washing her
clothes in a lane, with the gold chain round her
neck.
We know a gipsy man, acknowledged by those
gipsy families with whom he frequently travels as
JEWS, GIPSIES, MONEY, VANITY, BALLS, ETC. 191
tbeir chief, director, or presiding genius, who had a
finger-ring for which, he said, fifty pounds had been
paid by a relation of his, at that time in Ireland.
He had also a waistcoat, lined on the inside and at
the back with scarlet and blue satin, and on it were
seven fox's teeth mounted >vith silver and used as
buttons, instead of the ordinary metal or bone ones.
This waistcoat, he told us, cost him seven guineas,
and that he wore it on very special occasions only.
ARNOLD BMITn, A GIPSY HORSE-DEALER,
affords a striking proof of the innate vanity often
displayed by this people. We have seen this dealer
in horses at some of the fairs in the west of England
wearing a top-coat, and on it a row of silver crown
pieces shanked for buttons, a row of half-crown
pieces used as buttons for the under-coat, and
shillings for the waistcoat. Of these he was very
proud, and boastingly told us he had paid twelve
pounds ten shillings for the set.
This love of gay clothing is sometimes exhibited
by gipsy children, of which Crabb gives the fol-
lowing instance : " An orphan, ten years old, taken
from starvation, and who was fed and clothed, and
had every care taken of him, would not remain
with those who wished him well, and who had
been his friends, but returned to the camp from
which he had been taken, saying that he * would
he a gipsy, and would wear silver buttons on his
coat, and have topped hoots.' And when he was
asked how he would get them, he replied, 'JJy
catching rats' H
192 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
A few summers ago a tribe of gipsies, numbering
altogether about sixty men, women, and children,
gave
A GIPSY BALL IN A FIELD,
at which we were present. The field had been
rented by them for a month, and in it were eight
tents and four or five vans. . The arrangements for
this ball were almost unique. In the middle of the
field, which was about five acres in extent, and
encircled with high trees, a piece of ground, about
fifty feet in diameter, was inclosed by poles and
ropes reaching from one pole to another. In the
centre of this plot, and planted firmly in the ground,
was a very high pole, and from the flag-staff at the
top of it floated the Union Jack. At the bottom of
this centre pole a quadrille band was stationed.
Naphtha lamps in great numbers were suspended on
it nearly twenty feet from the base, and on the top
of each of the circumference poles other lamps were
placed. As soon as the evening shadows deepened
into night the lamps were lighted, the yellow glare of
which gave the field and its surroundings a strange
and romantic appearance. Although the charge
for admission was sixpence each person, there were
present at this ball about two thousand people of
both sexes, and of nearly every condition of life.
Some of the gipsies who took part in the ball were
gaily and expensively dressed. One of the women,
who was about twenty-four years of age, wore a black
and yellow satin dress so long in the skirt that it
trailed on the ground. She had on red slippers;
round her wrists were costly bracelets; on her fingers
ii several rings ; a gold chain and !>c;u!s were
suspended from her neck ; and on her head was a
kind of coronet, pendent from which were six golden
ptohfiias ; her hair, which was as Mack rts the raven's
wing and of great length, hung in glossy ringlets
aver her shoulders. Another gipsy woman whs
attired in a costly blue satin dress. Trinkets, ear*
drops, and chains of almost every pattern, red cloaks
Mid shawls, neckerchiefs, and long sashes, of nearly
o v^ry colour, were worn by the other females.
Some of the young gipsy men who took part in
the hall wore black dress coats, white vests and
collars, satin neckties, black trousers, and patent-
l^ither boots. Although we have little or no
ktxowledge of the Terpsichorean art, we may venture
to say that the dancing on this occasion was said to
have been both easy and graceful. Although two or
fcltiee gipsy men danced with a few of our girls, we
Noticed that the gipsy women either would not, or
tli € y were not allowed to, dance with any one but
*t*e men or females of their own race.
Although we are not aware that there is a Romany
prohibiting gipsy girls from dancing with Gorjos,
y^t the following incident seems to indicate that such
^ law is in existence. A young shopman of the town
close by, and who was one of the visitors at this ball,
requested a gipsy girl to be his partner in the dance ;
this she very courteously but firmly refused to do.
He, however, pressed her over and over again to
grant his wish, but still she objected. He then be-
came so rudely impertinent that she left the dancers
and went to her tent, thinking to get rid of his
importunities. Thither he followed her, and was
194 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
about to enter the tent when she gave a note of
alarm, which was in a few moments responded to by
two gipsy men who had been carefully watching the
conduct of the intruder. These gipsies accosted him
in a fierce and determined manner, and seemed much
inclined to inflict upon him a very severe and sum-
mary chastisement for his temerity. Fortunately
the young man saw he was in danger, and at once
beat a retreat, or the consequeuces might have been
to him of a serious nature. This little episode caused
some confusion, and seemed to threaten an abrupt
termination to the entertainment, but in a few
minutes order was restored, and the dancing was
resumed, which lasted until about eleven o'clock.
THE GIPSY GIRLS AND THE JEWELLER.
A day or two previous to this grand ball two gipsy
girls, named Rosa Boswell and Linda Young, belong-
ing to the encampment referred to, visited a shop in
the adjacent town to purchase some jewellery.
" I want a pair of ear-drops," said Rosa to one of
the shopmen ; " will you show me some ?"
Seeing they were gipsies, and not having much
confidence in the honesty of his visitors, but probably
a wonderful idea of their adroitness in deception and
trickery, the young man said he was afraid he had
none to suit her, as they were all very expensive.
" Let me see some," said Rosa, a little annoyed at
his remark. Several were then placed before the
gipsies, and as they rapidly examined them the eyes
of the jeweller were all the time watching the move-
ments of the girls fingers.
JEWS, GIPSIES, MONEY, VANITY, BALLS, ETC. 193
" I don't like any of these/ said Rosa.
" No more do I," said Linda,
" What is the price, sare ? H asked Rosa.
"Very expensive," he replied; "they are all a
guinea a pair, nothing less."
u A guinea a pair," repeated Rosa, and then laughed
at the shopman, who did not appear to like in any
degree the appearance of the customers hefore him.
"Have you no better things than these in your
shop ? n enquired Linda.
"Certainly we have," was the young man's
answer, u but much more expensive than those I
have shown you."
** Take them away," said Rosa ; *' a pair of ear-drops
I want, and a pair 111 have if they suit my fancy*"
Another card of ear-drops was produced, a pail of
which almost instantaneously attracted the notice of
the two girls.
"I'll take this pair, sare" said Rosa; "so wrap
them up carefully, and I'll pay you."
M But these are five guineas a pair," said the
astonished jeweller.
"Never you mind about that," said Rosa ; "what
odds is it to you if I like to have them? I'm pre-
pared to pay for them, so be quick about it, we
want to be off."
Even Rosa's assurance of ability to pay down the
money at once did not seem to give the shopman any
greater confidence in the honesty of his gipsy cus-
tomers, but rather tended to increase his suspicion
that they would, in some way or other, deceive bim,
and that he would become, after all his care, the
victim of their superior craft.
o 2
196
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TBNT t AND VAN.
The ear-drops were however carefully placed in a
small case for protection against injury ; Rosa paid
the full price, five guineas, for them, and then hotlu^n
girls left the shop, evidently well pleased with th <*-=»
purchase they had made.
On the first night of the ball we saw these verit -
able ear-drops hanging on the ears of the vivacious
Rosa, and we must confess that they helped to give
a kind of fascination to her tawny complexion, ancizzzd
very dark hair, which hung in great profusion ove^r r
her well-formed shoulders.
It will not, we think, be out of place to remarl-=Mc
that the kind of vanity we have referred to is no- t
peculiar to the gipsy race. It is as " old as the hills, 1 ^
and as wide as the world. It is found amongst tb»- e
most untutored tribes of men, and more or les. -ass
prevails throughout all civilized countries.
This love of gay colours, of trinkets, jewellery, anc^ d
of various kinds of finery is nevertheless the morm>~~?*
noticeable in the gipsies because of the strange con
trast these colours present to the common and coars^^^
quality of the habiliments they often wear, and th^^^ e
abject poverty of many members of these wanderings *S
tribes. Even when they lack warm and necessar^C^T
clothing, they seem determined to bedizen themselves ^ses
with the most gaudy colours that nature and art car^ - n
produce.
GIPSY NOTIONS OF PAWNSHOPS.
Gipsies appear to have greater confidence in pawi
shops than in banks. When they have a good si
of money they usually purchase silver chains, spoon^^
cream jugs, tea-pots, and other valuable articles^
JEWS, GIPSIES, MONET, VANITY, BALLS, ETC. 197
which they pawn for a very small amount. When
they need ready money they redeem and sell them
for what they will fetch. When a gipsy has to be
tried for a crime he may have committed, his friends
will pay liberally for counsel to defend him, some-
times as much as one hundred pounds. We have
been informed that a case of this kind occurred in
the city of Oxford a few years since, on which
occasion the young gipsy who was tried being
acquitted, the gipsies, many in number, on hearing
the verdict became excited and hilarious, threw their
hats up into the air, and indulged in almost frantic
demonstrations of joy at the young gipsy *s release
from what they termed " the clutches of the law."
BORROWED MONEY — LAW OP HONOUR, ETC.
Gipsies have a law of honour among themselves
called "Pazhorrus," which enforces payment of
double the amount of money borrowed by one gipsy
of another if the money is not paid at the time
verbally agreed upon. If the l>orrower cannot pay
it back in money he must work it out in some way
or other, and if he won't work it out he is then
discarded, and considered to be a disgrace to his own
people.
Strict, however, as they are in carrying out this
law, gipsies very readily assist each other in times of
need and misfortune.
Not many months since several gipsies met at an
inn in Acton-Turville. Amongst them was a gipsy
who had recently lost his horse, and was therefore
in distress, as he had not quite sufficient money to
198 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
buy another. "Arnold," said he to a well-known
gipsy horse-dealer; " can yon lend me two or three
sovereigns for a few days ? I've lost my horse, and
if I can't get another the lot of us, I mean the
missus and the young 'uns, as well as myself, will
starve altogether."
" I can't, my lad," replied Arnold ; " I havn't got
any by me ; but wait, I may find something eke
that will answer the same purpose." Arnold then
took from a fob within his plush waistcoat a roll of
bank-notes. " There's a Jwer (five pound note) for
you," said he, tossing it to the man ; " will that do
for you ? and, Cooper," he said, " don't forget the oW
Jaw."
The usual condition on which gipsies lend mone^
one to another was understood on this occasion, atv c
fully attended to by the borrower, who return^
the money at the time specified between the t^^
men.
The honour and punctuality of gipsies in th "
particular no doubt constitute the secret of the^
readiness to assist each other in the time of mi^
fortune. Were it not so the fate of many of th^
gipsy people would be, in their isolated condition"
almost intolerable, at any rate very much wors-s
than it now is. We do not hesitate to say tha*
sympathy is a prominent feature of the gipsy race.
Although these wandering tribes are guilty 6*
many delinquencies, they are bound by one of their
own laws never to divulge any secret, nor to giv^
information to others that would be in any wa^
detrimental to the interests of their own ractf
Rather than betray each other, they would submit t^
JEWS, GIPSIES, MONEY, VAJBTITY, BALLS, ETO. 199
ie severest punishment that could be inflicted upon
tarn.
Gipsies are not so selfish as many persons suppose
Mm to be. They agree to share their spoils and
HOTO ff ^fl with those who belong to the same clan or
Nnpany. This communistic practice or agreement
Mi all the strength of an old established law
mongst them, and a violation of it will often result
1 the most fierce and pugilistic encounters between
Item.
i
CHAPTER XL
MENTAL POWERS; GIPSY TEACHKJtS AND PUPllS*
Causes of neglect of mental culture among the gipsies— A
wandering life unfavourable— Requirements of the human
intellect — Gipsy children great talkers — Mental capacitil*
of gipsies— A queer story of Sandie Brown and th«
bullock's tail — The farmer and gipsy horse-dealer— A younf
gipsy cripple — A school of gipsy children — Sylrcsttf
Boswell and his library — A novel system of education—
John Hteggall, the Suffolk gipsy — Gipsies observant n
passing events — What a gipsy woman once said to W
author about the education of their children.
'Tib education forma the common mind,
Just as the twig is lent, the tree's inclined*"
Popr.
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 201
That the low mental and moral condition of the
gipsies ever since their introduction into this country
ias been like a dark cloud or blot standing pro-
minently and conspicuously out in the full light of
>ur civilisation and educational facilities cannot be
Icnied, at least not by those who hare paid any
ittention to the life, habits, and histories of this
angular people.
We have already remarked that the gipsies have
never written any books nor kept any records re*
Rpecting themselves. We are not aware that any
writer of foreign literature and history has ever
given an account of any learned men belong-
ing to the gipsy race, either in this or any other
country,
The causes of this neglect of mental culture
among the gipsies, and the ignorance in which
they have lived, are worthy of consideration, which
may aid us in arriving at a correct conclusion, and
suggest to us the proper means to be used to remedy
this state of things.
We have often referred to this subject when in
conversation with gipsies, some of whom have said
that the fact of having no literature of their own,
and their deficiency in the rudiments of education,
are owing to their perpetual wanderings, to the
persecutions they have suffered, and to the prejudice
which everywhere prevails against them. It must
be admitted that a nomadic life is not favourable to
a regular and systematic course of education, ami
that the general antipathy which has always existed
against the gipsies has constituted a great barrier to
every effort that has been made to extend the
202 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
advantages of education to these isolated and wan-
dering tribes.
While admitting that persecution may have
operated as a preventive to the proper culture of
the gipsy mind, yet this reason loses some of its
force by the fact that the Jews under parallel
circumstances have always had learned men amongst
them. Unfavourable as the wandering life of the
gipsies, the antipathy shown towards them, and the
persecutions they have endured, more or less, for
centuries, may have been, and still aTe, to the
acquirement of popular education, other reasons
than those given may, we think, be assigned for the
want of it among the gipsy people.
Nature in her productions furnishes us with an
apt illustration of what is really necessary for the
proper development of the human intellect.
The beauty and perfection of seeds, plants, and
flowers, depend, in a great measure, upon the
proper attention and care man bestows upon them,
and especially upon suitable soil, rain, and genial
sunshine. If lacking these they would be of feeble
growth, and defective both in life and beauty.
The human intellect also requires care and
attention too, because without them it cannot be
properly developed, which would be to the dis-
advantage of those in whom it is neglected. Two
children may, when born, be much alike both in
their physical and mental natures, but by due
attention, education, good examples and influences,
or neglect of these things, may grow up to be two
widely different beings.
It is true that sometimes a liberal education, a
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 203
good example, and even the best of all influences,
fail in making men skilful, virtuous, and useful ; yet
we have proofs in abundance that they also produce
very opposite effects. By them the better qualities
of the heart and powers of the mind are drawn
out, resulting not only in pleasure and benefit to the
individual himself, but also in great good and advan-
ges to society generally.
On the other hand, where there are no controlling
moral influences to guide developing reason aright,
no good example given for imitation, and no
ffort made to store the mind with useful knowledge,
n we expect a child, or any other human being, to
become anything else but wicked, vicious, rude, in
conduct objectionable, and a pest to society ?
Lb these two cases the opposite results arise, not
bo much from difference in mental power, but from
the right or wrong direction given to it by the kind
of education each has received, and the influences
by which they have been directed.
With but few exceptions those who are not
educated, and whose minds are not imbued with
ennobling principles, seem to be almost destitute of
ental aspirations, and seldom have any inclination
raise themselves m the social scale, but are con-
nt to remain in ignorance, and to live insensible
all progress and the moral obligations of life.
The ignorance of the gipsies is in a groat measure
owing to an innate wish to avoid everything that
would draw them into more intimate connection with
ther people, which is no doubt one reason why they
ver adopt the customs or encourage the arts
rainon among all civilized people. Gipsies seldom
204 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
attempt to use either pen, pencil, or paint in drawing
or sketching, at least not in England. They estimate
Nature's own pictures — her seas, rivers, mountains,
rocks, trees, fruit, and flowers, as exhibiting some-
thing infinitely superior to that which man can
produce. They appear to have no reason to com-
plain of frequent visits from the poetic muse, at all
events we are not favoured with many of their poetic
effusions. They have but little poetry of their own,
Gipsy children, like their parents, are great talkers,
and like all other young folks, will often amuse each
other by relating what they have seen and heard in
their day's ramblings through "the big town," "in
the fair," or on the " race-course," and it may be what
they have witnessed at the "gentleman's house."
They tell their little adventures, successes, diffi-
culties, and sorrows one to another, and each seems
quite satisfied if he or she has the sympathy of the
rest. Adult gipsies have but few traditionary tales
either in prose or poetry respecting their own race,
and care but little to hear those having reference to
other people.
From the picture we have drawn it will be seen
that both the teachers and pupils of gipsydom have
been placed at great disadvantage in reference to the
cultivation of the intellect, proper education, and
the inculcation of right and elevating principles;
and also in lacking those influences and examples so
necessary to form the true moral character and to
train the mind in honesty, uprightness, and virtue.
Although a phrenological examination of the head
of a man whose intellect has been well developed by
study and education, and that of a wayside gipsji
MENTAL POWERS; TEA OREL'S AX1> PEI'/LS, I'Df,
who lias not had these advantages, might result in
favour of the former, yet we assert that the gipsies,
as a race, are not wanting in mental power or
capacities. They have thorn, and need only to be
brought out by exercise and encouraged by some
friendly voice and the counsels of those who have
learned wisdom, not ouly from education, but from
experience*
Gipsies, as before shown, are capable of becoming
good musicians, actors, and mechanics. Some of them
have marvellously good memories ; their powers of
perception are considerable ; they are eveu shrewd
and witty, have an extensive knowledge of the weak-
nesses of human nature, which they are clever enough
to turn to their own advantage ; and their inventive
faculties, seen in some of their deep-laid schemes,
are of a wonderful kind.
When any man is in a difficulty about the attain-
ment of an object, no matter whether it is a good or
a bad one, he finds it necessary to use his reasoning,
or brain-power, to extricate himself from it, so that
he may ward oft* the punishment that would follow
a failure in his effort to do so. That gipsies are
mentally capable of doing this may be seen in the
following story of
SAN DIE BROWN AND THE BULLOCKS TAIL.
"On one occasion this Scottish gipsy stood in
great need of butcher's meat for his tribe. He hail
observed grazing in a field in Linlithgow a bullock,
which had at one period by some accident lost about
three-fourths of its tail* lie bought from a tanner
206 OUR 0IP8TE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
the tail of a skin of the same colour as this bullock',
and in an ingenious manner made it fast to the
remaining part of the tail of the living animal by
sewing them together. Disguised in this way he
drove off his booty ; and as he was shipping the
beast at Queensferry, on his way north, a servant
who had been despatched in search of the depredator
overtook him as he was stepping into the boat. An
altercation commenced; the servant said he could
swear to the ox in his possession were it not for his
long tail, and was accordingly proceeding to examine
it narrowly to satisfy himself in this particular, when
the ready-witted gipsy, ever fertile in expedients to
extricate himself from difficulty, took his knife out
of his pocket, and in view of all present cut the false
tail from the animal, taking in part of the real tail
along with it, which drew blood instantly. He threw
the false tail into the sea, and with some warmth
called out to his pursuer, * Swear to it now, you
scoundrel.' The servant, quite confounded, said not
another word on the subject ; and being thus im-
posed upon by this bold stroke of Browns, returned
home to his master, and the unconscionable thief
prosecuted his journey with his prize."
The following story is another illustration of what
we have stated in reference to the inventive faculties
and skill which gipsies often exhibit.
THE FARMER AND GIPSY HORSE-DEALER.
It appears, according to the author of 'The
Gipsies, History, Customs, &c.', that a person who bad
formerly been a P.M.P., but who married the widow
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 207
of a Lincolnshire fanner, went to Spilsby fair, and
sold an old horse to a gipsy, to whom he expressed a
wish to purchase a horse of a similar size and colour,
but a few years younger. The gipsy at once
declared that he had a horse of that description
grazing a few miles away, and if the man would wait,
he would have it on the spot in a few hours. He
waited. The horse was bought. On entering the
yard the next morning, his wife, who was par-
ticularly fond of old Jack, having been a great
favourite with her former husband, said, "Fm glad
you ve brought hiin back again/* " Back,'* said the
husband, u what do you mean ? " " Why, that's Jack,"
replied the wife. " You've lost your eyes," was the
answer. "That may be," rejoined the wife good
naturedly, 44 but that's Jack, and only get off, and
you'll see where he'll go/* When, lo ! and behold !
Jack gave one of his usual snorts, and then trotted
off to his accustomed stall. The truth was, the gipsy
had, in a few hours, metamorphosed Jack into a
bright skinned and sprightly horse, and then sold
him to his original proprietor, who paid ten pounds
for his bargain.
Some gipsies have shown great quickness, affec-
tion, and logical aeuteness on subjects of an abstruse
kind. Mr. Vanderkiste, connected with the London
City Mission, has given an interesting account of
the mental capacities of
A VOUNG GIPSY CRIPPLE,
who was at one time an infidel, but who was induced
to attend religious services and to study the Bible*
208 OUR QIPSIE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
He would sometimes ask very perplexing questions.
One day he quoted a passage from * Humboldt's
Cosmos.' This work being very expensive, Mr.
Vanderkiste asked him how he gained access to this
and similar works he appeared to be acquainted
with. The gipsy answered that " he used to go to
Paternoster Row, where the books is all of a row,
and they turn over fresh pages, and I reads like
anything and picks up a deal." He often held
discussions with infidels, whose objections to Christi-
anity he would meet with forcible arguments.
A SCHOOL OP GIPSY CHILDREN.
A few years since a young lady, residing at
Hounslow, opened a school for some gipsy children
belonging to an encampment close to the town.
Her pupils were poorly clad, some of them without
shoes and stockings. Their hair, by constant ex-
posure to the sun and dust, was almost as rough
and of as many shades of colour as the hair on the
backs of their donkeys browsing by the side of the
road. But her pupils were nevertheless ready-
witted, quick, and willing to be taught. The re-
plies they gave to some of her questions, and the
curious comparisons they frequently made, afforded
their teacher much amusement, and encouraged her
to persevere in her self-imposed task of teaching the
" young idea how to shoot."
On one occasion when they were learning the
letters of the alphabet, she asked them how they
would remember the capital letter K.
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 209
$i Because/* answered one of the boys, 11 it is like
donkey's ears."
t( But how will you know the letter I?" she asked.
"By looking," said one of the girls, "at the two
holes in your face/' meaning the teacher's eyes.
This lady informed us that these little rough,
but ready, children of Nature had great aptitude for
learning, and exhibited considerable clearness of per-
ception and powers of comprehension, so much so that
they would bear a favourable comparison, mentally,
with the children of our own people. It was a cause
of great regret to this lady, who took so much
trouble with and interest in the education of these
gipsy children, that there should be so sudden a
termination to her successful exertions among them,
by the whole tribe leaving Hounslow, where they
had tented scarcely two months. What we have
stated is an obvious proof that the nomadic life of
the gipsy race operates very unfavourably in regard
to the education of their children, and is really the
main reason why they remain in such a sad state of
ignorance.
We once read an account of a gipsy man, named
Stanley, who learned to read after he had reached
the prime of life, then became a student of the
Scriptures and a preacher among his own people.
SYLVESTER BOSWELL AND HIS LIBKART*
This gipsy man, to whom reference is made in the
fourth chapter, and who was about fifty-five years
of age at the time to which we are about to refer,
possessed a large number of books, which is a very
P
210 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
unusual thing among this people. Finding he had
pitched his tent about a mile from where we were
living, we resolved upon having an interview with
him, as his notability, in more senses than one, had
very considerably excited our curiosity ; so one
morning off we started, and were fortunate enough to
find him at home, and busily engaged in looking
over his library, which consisted of several books
lying on the grass close to his tilted cart. After
exchanging the usual courtesies of " good morning,"
and making certain enquiries about the health of
each other, we asked him,
" Are you a dealer in second hand books ? "
"No, I'm not," sharply answered the gipsy; "at
least not to make money by the sale of them; I
bought them for another purpose. Would you like
to look them over ? " he asked.
We very gladly accepted the opportunity of doing
so, and was surprised in finding that his collection
of books comprised many well bound and valuable
volumes on history, poetry, the sciences, novels of
various kinds, a Latin Dictionary, a Greek Lexicon,
a copy of Burns Justice, and a large Bible and
Church of England Prayer-book, and many others
on general subjects.
After inspecting the books, we asked Boswell if
he could read.
" Certainly I can," he tartly replied, as he was
evidently a little offended at the question.
" But do you read much, and are you acquainted
with the contents of the books before you ? 99 we
enquired.
" You had better try me," said the gipsy, w&
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 211
a half saucy twinkle of the eye, "and then perhaps
you'll be convinced on that point,"
We referred to a few historical narratives of the
Old and New Testaments, with some of which Boswell
was very conversant. He had read much of profane
as well as of sacred history ; he spoke of the merits
of different literary works, quoted the poets, touched
upon some of the sciences, especially astronomy and
astrology ; he talked ahout English jurisprudence,
the idiom of tongues, the proper construction of
sentences, the declension of nouns, the tenses, verbs,
adverbs, and adjectives, and especially referred to
some of the peculiarities of the dialect of his own
race. He said he had some knowledge of the Latin,
French, and German languages, and that he should
like to have been a Greek scholar.
This most interesting visit was supplemented by
Boswell taking from his stock of books a well
thumbed but very dilapidated-looking dictionary of
the English language, over which he almost delivered
a requiem by saying the said book was a good deal
like its owner, " getting all the worse for age, wear
and tear.*' "You see, sir,*' he said, *' I've had this
book nearly ever since I could read, and that's a good
many years, you know ; but by constant use it's got
weak in the back, the leaves are loose, and they get
out of place, and then, you see, they are a good bit
worn and soiled with the use they've had; but I
can't afford to buy another, and so I must put up
with it, I reckon, unless some friend will but
I won't say any more now — hope to see you to-
morrow,"
We bade him * good morning," and then left hira
v 2
212 OUR OIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
with his books. His unfinished sentence was very
suggestive, and a broad hint that if we were to
present him with a new English Dictionary he would
not be in the least offended by our so doing.
On our next visit to Boswell he had ample proof
that his 44 broadhint " had accomplished its purpose,
as we made him a present of a new illustrated
dictionary, for which he expressed his thanks and
gratitude as sincerely and heartily as any human
being could possibly do. " I shall never forget your
kindness, sir," he said ; " I shall cherish the remem-
brance of it all the rest of my days ; but do me one
more favour, sir, write your name in it, and that will
make it a still greater treasure to me. I've got ink,
and a pen too, but Fm afraid it's not a very good
one." Boswell produced both in less than a minute,
and so we left our autograph in the book ; he then
in return gave us his, written in a bold and legible
hand. We often saw him afterwards, and never
failed to gather from him some new information
respecting the history, language, and habits of the
race of which he was such a notable member. We
do not hesitate to assert that had gipsy Boswell been
favoured in early life with educational facilities, he
no doubt would have become a good scholar and
linguist.
If it is a matter of wonder that, in spite of the
obstacles a wandering life throws in the way of
cultivating the mind and acquiring knowledge, gipsy
Boswell succeeded, by his own unaided efforts, to do
so, we may assume that other gipsies might do the
same if the necessity and advantages of education
were pointed out to them.
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 213
A NOVEL SYSTEM OF EDUCATION",
Many years since some kindly disposed people
-were anxious to teach the gipsies, both children and
adults, to read, and so supplied them with elementary
books for that purpose ; but unfortunately for their
well meant efforts to do so, these books were utilised
in another way. The duty of lighting the fire usually
devolved upon the eldest girl of the family. Some-
times the sticks were not dry enough to ignite as
rapidly as desired, and so the mother would say to
the child, " Take the ticknee lils (little books), they'll
set it going, 91 which no doubt generally proved to
be the case.
Another plan was therefore resorted to. Pieces
of tin were produced, and on them letters, both
capital and small, of the English alphabet were
painted. They were then threaded on long pieces
of wire and suspended on the gipsy tents. It was
certain the gipsies could not light their fires with
the tin letters, and so the former difficulty was
removed. The voluntary teachers referred to were
now encouraged in their work, as both old and young
gipsies soon evinced an anxious wish to learn, and
many of them ere long succeeded in doing so. These
tawny pupils then became desirous to obtain books,
winch were soon purchased, in some cases by them-
selves, and in others by their teachers, who, at their
own expense, gave them to the gipsies free of charge.
It is said that these books were much prized by them,
and often read. It is evident from the foregoing
statements that gipsies are not totally destitute ol
214 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
capacitior to learn, nor of inclination to inform their
minds. But we would ask, how has this mental
power, these inventive faculties, the quick percep-
tion, the shrewdness, cunning, and ready wit shown
more or less by the gipsies as a race been directed,
and under what influences have they been en-
couraged or controlled ? The social condition of
this people answers the question.
They are isolated, not only through their love of
wandering, but because they know they are hated,
despised, opposed, and outlawed by the world at large.
This makes them vindictive, and indisposed to have
anything to do with others beyond what sheer neces-
sity imposes upon them. A feeling of revenge is
the prompter of many of their actions ; their study,
in many instances, is to form plans, and to adopt the
most likely stratagems and crafty measures to gain
their object, even at the cost of deceiving and
wronging others.
Practically, a gipsy father, one of the teachers in
gipsydom, says to his son, " Now then, as you'll have
to fight your own way alone in the world by-and-
by, and to live by your own wits, you must listen
to my advice, carry out my instructions, and stick to
the rules I shall give you in whatever you undertake ;
and you'll have to do some strange things, and run
great risks, too, in order to get a living, I can tell
you ; but you mustn't be squeamish about the means
you may have to employ to gain your ends ; that
wouldn't do a bit, because it would render you a
disgrace, not only to me, but to the race to which
you belong."
This little pupil in gipsydom, whose mind is ira-
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 215
pressible, and readily imbibes everything it hears
and sees, has no other alternative but to believe that
all bis father tells him is necessary to his own future
success in his battle with the world* It is reasonable
to suppose that by such an education and influences
the boy, thus trained, will be guided in his future
actions during the whole of his life, unless, as if by
some miraculous power and unforeseen occurrences,
he is rescued from that condition, and placed in one
of greater moral and mental advantages.
As a corroboration of the above remarks, we will
relate some incidents recorded in the history of
JOHN STEGGALL, THE SUFFOLK GIF BY,
so called, who, though not a gipsy born, ran away
from school because of the severity of the master,
and joined a gipsy family, the father of which was
a gentleman of our own race, and who, having
married a woman of the Hearne family, lived a
gipsy life, and in all respects used the same kind
of means for a livelihood as do the genuine gipsies
with whom he had identified himself.
As the reward of a guinea had been offered for
the restoration of young Steggall to his friends,
and the pseudo gipsy referred to, knowing that he
might be suspected of harbouring the runaway,
deemed it necessary bo to alter the appearance of
the lad that any one who might visit and search his
tent would not be able to recognise the youth they
wanted.
Before giving the promised quotation, we must
inform the reader that thq gipsy had taken young
216 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Steggall to his tent, not with any wrong or dishonest
intention, but rather out of a strong paternal feeling
and kindly sympathy ; for the boy, he saw, was
weary, sad and hungry, and who had been, as he
ascertained, driven from school by the cruel treat-
ment he had received from his master.
After being well fed, kindly used, and a good rest
in his new but strange lodging-place, the gipsies
naturally thought the boy would like to leave them,
and so the gipsy said to him :
" Young lad, do you wish to be restored to your
friends ? "
"Not yet," said I. (Steggall relates what
follows.)
" * Humph ! * was the old man's expression, as it
he thought that I should one day leave him of my
own accord. 4 How long would you like to live
here ? '
" ' As long as you are kind to me/ said I.
" 4 Humph ' — again. ' Did you peel those sticks*
yourself ? '
" 6 Yes, father, he did/ said the girl.
" * Who asked you that question, Mog ? I asked
the boy.'
" ' Yes, I did ; but Mog taught me/
6t 4 You have worked well ; but if you wish to
remain here you must be a gipsy, or at least look
more like one than you now do. There is a reward
of a guinea offered to any one who will bring you
in/
" 4 Pray don't take me Back ! ' said I ; ' pray don't
take me back ! '
* Willow sticks used by gipsies in basket-making.
MENTAL POWERS i TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 217
H 1 1 was not going to do so ; but you must take
those things off your back, or you will very soon be
carried back ; for I expect there will be some country
fellows in search of you soon, who would like to
have a guinea in their hands, and have us gipsies
sent to jail for kidnapping you,"
u * Pray take my clothes! Pray lend me some
others ! and do what you will with me, only do not
let me fall into the grasp of that same tyrant again/
.*** Jack, get one of Barnaby's begging suits, and
doff the youngster's blue jacket, Mog, get your
mother s shears, and just cut off those curly locks *of
the young gentleman* Jim, go you and bring out
of your mother's tent some of the boiled willow peel-
ings which have been burnt and seething there
since the morning, and give him a regular wash/
" So did the gipsy presently employ all his family
to disguise me* I was soon stripped, washed, clipped,
, and dressed, and actually one of the girls went and
fetched a piece of broken looking-glass, and showing
me myself therein, made me have such a fit of
laughter that even the long, lank, grim, and greasy-
looking gipsy could not help joining in the laugh, I
certainly never beheld such a thorough blackguard-
looking lad as I was made to look in five minutes,
*' My face was as sallow as if I had been smoked
for a month ; my teeth were white ; my eyes, which
were hazel, were now surrounded by such dark eye-
lids that positively I had no idea that I could have
been so Bpeedily transmogrified ; all the ringlets
were shorn from my hair, and Mog had so sheared
and stiffened it that there I was, worse than any
union boy with his hair polled, and thoroughly
218 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
transformed: ... I had a dried sheepskin jacket,
which served me for waistcoat and coat ; a pair of
trousers made of the old smoky tent tarpaulin ; no
stockings, no gloves, no hat, but a greasy old dog's-
skin or cat's-skin cap. In my own eyes I was now
a gipsy, and though I knew nothing of the slang
among them, I could perceive they enjoyed the idea
of brotherhood amazingly.
" 4 They will never know him, father, never.'
" ' Give me his clothes, Mog/
" They were done up in a bundle, and in a very
curious place they were deposited, A square piece
of turf was taken up in the tent, which had evi-
dently been removed and put down before, and
underneath that turf there was a large boiler with a
top to it, which, being taken off, my bundle of
gentleman's clothes was thrust without ceremony
into it, my hat crushed to a pancake. The lid of the
pot was put on again, the turf covered over it, and
sticks and pots and pans laid thereon, so that no
one could have possibly conceived such a gipsy's
cupboard unless they had experienced, as I then did,
the use of it.
" * Now, boy/ said the gipsy, 4 you must learn to
act, if you can, and pretend to be deaf and dumb,
and not to see or know anything. If any one should
come into our tent — as you may depend upon it they
will before the day is past — you must take no notice
of any one ; stare at the smoke, and sit with your
hands upon your knees like a fool ; or you may do
that which appears to suit you better, go on peeling
the sticks.'
" I am quite sure that I learned this lesson of de-
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS.
ception quicker than I learned any other lesson at
school all the days I was at Mr, Rogers's Academy,
and it was very necessary that I should be an apt
scholar, for I was very soon put to the test.
u ' Hullo, Jim, who is that coming up the lane ? 1
" r Why that's the constable of the parish of
Walsham, along with Fake the carpenter. You
may depend upon it we shall have a search. Now,
young one, sit you at your sticks/
" 1 Hullo, hullo, Master Gibson, we want to have a
word with you ! f
" This was the first time I had heard the name of
the gipsy — Gibson, Master Gibson — so, thinks I, I
must be a Gibson. I could hear the conversation, and
Mog sat peering into my face to see how I took it.
H i Who have you got there in your tent, Master
Gibson ? We are bound to look for a young gentle*
man who has run away from school at Walsham,
and is suspected of being with you, and that you
are harbouring him in your tent/
M 'Go in if you like, and look/
* * We don't want to go in; but have you anybody
there?*
** ' Yes ; IVe poor Tom the idiot, deaf and dumb ;
Mog, my daughter; and Jim, my youngest. You
met my boys Jack and Barnaby, and I hope you
didn't find any wrong. Pray look in/
m I saw two heads stare in, and Mog and I kept
on peeling the sticks, and as innocently as possible.
" * What can you see, Master Fake ? '
" 1 1 can see two or three urchins peeling sticks,
that's all. But we are bound to search. Perhaps
you'll order your fry to come forth/
220 OUR QIP8IE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
" * Oh, yes. Mog, come out ; Jim, come out Take
care of your brother.'
44 We all came out. I grinning and staring in the
face of the constable of Walsham, whom I knew as
well as I did old Rogers ; for he as constable, quest-
man, and sexton, used to keep boys quiet at church,
dig graves, carry persons to prison, all in the course
of due authority.
44 4 The young lad missing is just the size of this
boy of yours.'
44 1 stared in his face as if I did not know what
he said.
44 He has a wild eye, curly hair, sharp look, is
very strong for such a lad, and just this boys
height.'
44 Certainly I did not look very bright ; I had no
longer curly locks ; I might have a wild eye, but
though my mind was not in the least degree a
vacant one, yet it looked, I suspect, wild enough at
the constable; but I lifted up the stick, put my
long browned fingers to the top of it, and drew off
such a long strip of green and yellow peel, and
grinned at it so beautifully, that the old constable
could not help saying :
44 4 Poor boy, he must be a sad misfortune to you,
Master Gibson. I hope you are kind to him ! '
44 Mog patted me on the head. I knew, of course,
what was said, and I looked at her and laughed so
pleased that Mog herself could not help smiling a*>
the artful dodge of my young idiotcy.
44 4 Here, poor boy, here's a penny for you,' saic0
the constable.
44 But I was deaf — I could not hear. It was thc^
MENTAL POWERS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 221
first time I would not hear, and It would have been
a good thing indeed if I had not heard many more
enticing things than this first offer of a penny.
* * He's quite deaf, Mr. Fake. 1
" ' And quite dumb too? Poor boy! I did not
know you had such an affliction. Well just look
into the tents.*
"They did so, and found nothing. When they
were come out the constable said to the gipsy :
(< 1 There's a guinea reward offered for the appre-
hension or capture of the younker ; and if, in your
wanderings, you should find him, a guinea, Master
Gibson, is worth the handling/
** * Pray, do you want any baskets, sir ? ' said Hog.
1 Any tea-kettles mending — any wooden bowls, sir ?
Puor Tom here can make many things, and works
hard, though he is an idiot boy/
a And she gave me a look so knowing that I
understood how completely the constables were
gulled, and what an apt scholar I had become at
deception.
** Header, the Gibsons were all clever gipsies,
and, to a certainty, they made me quickly as clever
as themselves. The constables departed, and we
had a bolt into the tent, and a roar of fun and
laughter at the acting "
Let it not be supposed that we intimate, by
quoting the above narrative, that child-stealing, or
detaining in their tents the children of other people
for the sake of obtaining rewards by restoring them
to their disconsolate friends, is a common crime
among the gipsies. We believe it is not so ; at
least, we know of no such case. We have given
222 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
these particulars rather as an illustration of the
ingenious methods gipsies not infrequently employ
to deceive others for their own special purposes and
interests.
We may here remark that brain-power may exist
independently of external influences, and that it is
developed accordingly as they are brought to bear
upon it. But if they should be of an immoral and
base kind, the mental qualities of human beings will
tend to what is vicious, dishonest, crafty, and
deceptive. If, however, the influences should be
morally good, the mind will take an opposite course,
by inclining to whatever is virtuous, straightforward,
honest, and truthful.
The gipsies, as a race, exhibit one special mental
characteristic. Isolated and ignorant as they are
considered to be, they are observant of the moral,
social, and mental machinery which is in active
operation among ourselves. They know as well as
we do what is being done for the children of the
poor in our towns and villages. They understand
more of public charities and the endowments ot
colleges and schools for educational purposes than
many people give them credit for. They know all
about the advantages that are offered in our village
schools to the children of agricultural labourers, and
are by no means ignorant of the many benefits de-
rived by artizans and others, of all classes and creeds
from our National, British, Board, and other public
schools.
Although recent efforts have been made to obtain
legislation to bring gipsies within the area of
national education, and their own excuses for
MENTAL POWEBS; TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 223
neglecting it may be weakening, yet many of them,
and not long since either, have complained to us
that in regard to the advantages we have mentioned
they have as a people been entirely overlooked
and ignored, and that our neglect of attention to the
education of their children have alike arisen from
the fact that they are gipsies.
Some time since we were walking to Gold Hill,
Buckinghamshire, when we met a gipsy woman
named Stanley, with whom we had some conversa-
tion respecting her own people neglecting to send
their children to school, particularly when they re-
mained in the same locality several days or three
or four weeks. We were quite surprised to hear
the reason she assigned for this apparent neglect.
M Do you know, sir," she said, " that some of the
mothers and fathers of your race have actually
objected to let their children mix with ours even in
small village schools/' She then told us that, not a
long time before, some peasant children were taken
from a school in Norfolk because the clergyman had
thought proper to admit into it three gipsy children
to be educated during the sojourn of the parents in
that locality.
Although we cannot exonerate the gipsies from
all blame in not having their children educated,
because they might do so if they would only give
themselves the trouble to think of the advantages
they would derive therefrom, we nevertheless must
admit that the thought that their children are
despised, slighted, and objected to because they are
the offspring of gipsy parents is to them a burning
and bitter one, and helps to widen the chasm that
224 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
yawns between us and them, and to strengthen more
and more their determination to remain an isolated
race.
Wherever the fault may be, it is certain that
gipsies possess the power, capacity, and we may
add a desire to learn. " Do, sir, if you please," said
the gipsy woman alluded to, " try to remove from
the minds of your people the antipathy they have
against my race, and above all, ask them to help us
to school our children. We love them, sir, and we
want to see them do well. Do this, won't you ? "
and as she looked earnestly at our face she said,
"and heaven will bless you." No one will deny
that gipsies ought to be educated both for their
own benefit and the credit of English civilization.
A GBSiEBOrS-HEAHTKH Ml'riY Wi'MAN. "M "h 1 II K I'll II mlTS.
CHAPTER XIL
VICES OF GIPSIES — HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS.
Clipping coin— Robbing hen-roosts— Highway robbers and
house-breakers— Knack of vamping up old horses — Kid-
napping— Gipsies not forgers — Nor political agitators —
Gipsy hospitality to strangers — The benighted traveller —
A distant glimmer — Night in a gipsy tent— How it was
spent— Departure — Search for a stray bullock* and how it
ended — A gipsy with a generous heart — Tho gipsy and
the drowned boy, an affecting incident not to be forgotten.
" Tlnvin^h t-.it tr- red clothes small vices do appear ;
Rnbex and furred gowns hide all,"
Shakespeare,
m True friendship's laws are by this rule expressed —
Welcome the coming, speed the parting <pw*l"
Tope.
Q
226 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
Once upon a time we wandered into a village
churchyard, in which amongst other inscriptions on -mzm:
the head and grave stones we read the following :
" Farewell, vain world, I've had enough of thee,
And now am careless what thou eay'st of me ;
The faults thou saw in me take care avoid ;
Search well thine own, and thou'll be well employed."
The last two lines contain so much good advic»^3t
and truthfulness that if properly remembered anc*-«i
followed, would no doubt be of great service to tu wrvi
all, especially to those who are self-conceited, an» -^d
proud of their mental abilities, of their high standing *g
in society, and of their fancied superiority ove^*=ar
less favored classes of their fellow-creatures. SucT^sh
men by condescending to learn from the humblest^ -at,
and even inanimate teachers, might become a littJBUe
more charitable and generous in the opinions the^sy
sometimes unjustly form of others, and we thin— jmk
they would be induced to pause before they deal oiz: — it
their sweeping denunciations against those they ma— —J
dislike and condemn.
If a man should censure and treat with contem^pt
others who may happen to be the subjects of popul^»
prejudice, it says very little in favour either of h_ "5s
studious habits, of his sympathetic nature, or tL^-e
analytical powers of his mind. How true it is thafc
" Minds that have little to confer,
Find little to perceive."
It is not our intention to try even to exonera-*©
the gipsies from all the charges of crime that have J
been preferred against them, yet as " fair play is a J
jewel," these wandering tribes have a moral right 1
VICES OF QIP8TE8— HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS. 227
to expect and to claim it, even from their greatest
enemies.
So numerous are the vices alleged against the
gipsies that it is necessary, as an act of justice to them,
to see whether they are justly and deservedly charged
with them or not* We shall refer to gome of them.
CLIPPING COINS.
Years ago the gipsies were accused of clipping
coins, although no proofs, so far as we are aware, have
been given that they even possessed the necessary
implements for such a purpose. In fact, the exposed
dwellings of the gipsies in our open roads, lanes, and
woods are hardly favourable for such a practice m
that alluded to ; but, on the other hand, render it
highly improbable.
Gipsies have been condemned as midnight ma~
rauders in farmyards, and of an unlawful partiality
to un plucked poultry, It is not fair, however, to
blame gipsies for having stolen all the fowls that
have been missed from those places contiguous to
their encampments* Other bipeds, as well as foxes,
who are thorough nocturnal prowlers, deserve, not
only some, but a large share of the blame of
these depredations* We know that as a people the
gipsies have an almost superstitious dread of being
absent from their tents after nightfall, especially
alone. This does not arise from cowardice, but from
other causes painfully known to this hated race.
That some gipsies have been, and may now be,
guilty of poaching, that they have stolen horses,
sheep, and a fawn now and then we will not deny,
q 2
228 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
I3ut we can assert these acts are comparatively
few, and that their atrocity is mitigated by the
remembrance that gipsies being often sorely pressed^Ez>:
with the necessities of nomadic life, have many^^
temptations to dishonesty unknown to civilizedE»±
society.
We can state, on undeniable authority, that^^s
numbers of farmers, near large towns, encouragt^-jgi
the location of gipsies near, or on their farms, b ogz» « c
lieving their encampments act as a check on othe =^^ei
men more dishonest than gipsies, and who migh>~ jmt^
if it were not for the presence of the latter, oommir ~*it
serious depredations on their property.
This fact, and many little acts of kindness show-
to these gipsy wayfarers, have inspired them wit-T**h
a feeling of honour towards those who have place^sd
confidence in them, and they have never to oiz_=ir
knowledge in any case violated the trust reposed ^Sn
them.
HIGHWAY ROBBERS AND HOUSE-BREAKERS.
As a race, the gipsies have never distinguish^^
themselves in these particular characters. Numeroc—
as have been the burglaries committed in Londc^ 11
and the country, we are not aware that any gip^J
has ever been charged with complicity in the abo^ re
crimes. Guilty as they may be of other offences
we imagine they regard both house-breaking aim d
highway robbery too hazardous for them to indulg^ 6
in, for reasons which in no way apply to burglai —
who, in the majority of cases, reside in thejov 5-1 ^
intricate, and crowded parts of our large towrr^ 18
and cities, and who have greater facilities for tfc 3e
CES OF GIPSIES— HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS. 229
concealment of stolen property than are available to
English gipsies.
It must be admitted that many of the gipsies are
guilty of committing acts of petty larceny. Some
of their women have obtained both money and
property by their pretended power to foretell future
events, and especially by attempting to give some
clue to those persons who may have secretly injured
ur wronged in any way the dupes who may apply to
them for such information.
Some gipsy men have shown their dexterity and
their cleverness in deceiving the most practised eye
by their
KNACK OP VAMPING IIP OLD HOUSES,
and making them appear much younger than they
really were, by which means they have often obtained
two or three times more money for them than they
were worth. Of this we have given an instance in
the preceding chapter. If they can be justly
charged with " horse-coping/' and M bishoping " these
animals, the instances are few ; simply because the
gipsies do not possess the proper conveniences
necessary for performing the above operations. We
may also state that great numbers of men, not
gipsies, living in every part of the country, are also
guilty of the same practices,
In regard to gipsies kidnapping youths and
stealing the children of other people, we may repeat
that we do not know of a single instance in which
they have done so in the sense in which the accusa-
tion should be understood. Such an alleged crime
more the phantom of a fertile imagination than
230 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
anything else. It may emanate from the versatile Jie
brain of a writer of a gipsy romance, be very oppor-— :mj-
tune to his purpose, and may add in some degr ees
to the sensational interest of his fictitious story, al— JT-i-
though it may have no foundation whatever in fact. _ ^1.
Even admitting that gipsies have enticed children*: sn
from their homes, the cases are undoubtedly rare ^3;
and it is singular that while such imputations ar»-s:re
made against them, they also accuse us of kidnapping mng
their children for the purpose of converting them fc:** to
our life. Such reclamation, however well intendedE^ d,
would not, we think, be permanent.
There is no doubt some truth in the accusationdXis
brought against them of clothes stealing. Gay, i: Snn
one of his pastoral poems, leads us to believe so ; btKi^rt
even this act is by no means peculiar to the gipsies-^ 8 *
The wretchedness of the apparel worn by th
majority of them scarcely justifies the charge ; an<^ m &
they certainly hold no commercial relations with a
certain other race whose affinity to " old clothes " \sS^ y&
generally acknowledged. The dresses most of th^-* e
gipsy women wear have not come to them direcr^-*
from the dressmaker, but are such as have "seeic^ 31
much better days," and which have been obtained notr
only by mutual consent, but it may be as a rewarc^^
to the gipsies for a nice fortune, or the revelation oWz ^
a bright and successful future to their former owners.*-* *
If gipsies are sometimes dishonest, coarse, ancL^^
given to debasing habits, charity should at least-^^
attribute these results to a wild, unrestrained
condition of life. Uncouthness of manner is not,
as a rule, characteristic of the gipsy race. They
are often very courteous and polite in manner ; and
VICES OF GIPSIES— HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS. 231
al though they have a confident way of expressing
themselves, and are in many cases exceedingly
voluble, yet they are usually very respectful in
their answers and demeanour towards other people,
especially to those who treat them properly.
GIPSIES ARE NOT FORGERS.
Forgery, considered to bo one of the greatest
offences against our laws, is certainly not a crime
known among the gipsies. While many reasons
might be assigned to show that it is not so, we
believe that no instance can be adduced of any gipsy
ever suffering the penalty of the law for the com-
mission of this particular offence* Having little or
no connection with our men of business in the com-
mercial marts of our large towns, they have neither
opportunities nor reasons for being guilty of this
crime ; if they had, their ignorance of pencraft
would be a great obstacle in their way. Their
knowledge and dread of English law, which they
know to be severe on this vice, is a strong reason
why they refrain from attempting to gain anything
at such a risk as by forgery. Their faults are many,
and they no doubt will get money and acquire
property even by questionable means, if they can do
so without the fear of being detected and punished
for their misdoings.
It r
GIPSIES NOT POLITICAL AGITATORS.
[t may be that during the first century of their
existence in this country and Scotland, so-called
232 OUR GIPSIES IX CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
gipsy dukes, lairds and kings might, for their own
sakes, have taken some interest in the politics and
law-making of the time ; but that, we should iiqagine,
would be to a very limited extent, as their mode of
life precluded the very conditions necessary to give
the right, the privilege, and power of taking a
really official part in matters of a civil kind.
So far as we are acquainted with modern gipsies,
they appear to have no party political creed to in-
fluence them either against or in favour of the.
government or laws under which they live ; neither
do they interfere with or seek a quarrel with other
on religious grounds.
Who ever heard of any political faction or con —
spiracies amongst them to harass and obstruct the
legislators of the country in which they sojourn
Who ever heard of gipsies plotting the destructions *
cf public buildings and other property, as well as ofe=^f
human life, by the aid of dynamite or any others*
explosive substance? May we not answer, "Nc^^
one."
The discoveries of science which have been un — -
lawfully used and misdirected by men in our very
midst are little studied by the gipsies, and perhaps
as little cared for by them. Their mode of life and
habits may be very objectionable to other people,
but none of the gipsies are known as members of
Nihilist, Fenian, or other revolutionary organiza-
tions. Their policy is rather to be quiescent in
these matters, and to give no reason for being inter-
fered with in their comparative isolation, which
they much prefer to the excitement of a more public
life.
ICES OF GIPSIES — I10SP1TALITY TO STJtANQERS. 233
GIPSY HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS,
If 44 true generosity is a duty as indispensably
necessary as those imposed upon ns by the law/'
and if u it is a rule imposed upon us by reason,
winch should be the sovereign law of a human
being," then we claim for the gipsies the credit for
being not only rational beings, but as developing in
some of their actions a noble and generous feeling.
Bitter as they may sometimes be against mankind
generally, yet having passed the ordeal of suffering,
privations, want of shelter and protection, they have
learned to sympathize even with strangers who may
be placed under similar circumstances, and to extend
to them both kindness and hospitality as far as their
means allow*
Some years since a gentleman told us that he was
ouce benighted when travelling in Shropshire. He
had taken the wrong road. Soon after the rain
began to fall, and darkness coming on, ho entirely
lost his way ; and to make his condition even more
sad and solitary, there was no house near to which
lie could repair either for shelter or protection, but
every probability of his having to remain all night
in the darkness, exposed to the rain and bitter cold.
Walking on, he at last espied a glimmering light
down a narrow lane, to which he immediately
hastened. He was in hope it might be in a cottage ;
but to his surprise it was the light of a gipsy's fire
that had attracted his attention. Although some-
what startled, and a little nervous in discovering
himself in the presence of some lawless, wandering
234 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
gipsies, he nevertheless mustered up all the courage
he could, told the gipsies he had lost his way, and
then asked them to put him in the right road for the ^» me
place he wanted to reach.
One of the gipsy men, a stalwart, rough-looking^^
fellow, said to him, in a rather forbidding tone oftr<=» o
voice, "It's no use to do that, sir; you are milea^ie
out of the way ; the night is dark, the roads bt&-x:m
bad, travelling is dangerous; gamekeepers are om^zmo)
the look-out, dogs are let loose, and it's just likely, ifci . i
you attempt the journey now to the place you want^^zml
you may be taken for a poacher or something worse^Mase
and be very unpleasantly dealt with."
" What, then, am I to do ? " asked the benightec>^^e(i
traveller quite concernedly, and discouraged by th* rf.he
dark and disheartening picture the gipsy had s*«* so
graphically drawn.
" That depends upon yourself," replied the gipsy ^^ y*
" If your pride of birth and high notions are not to**^ °o
great to come down a little bit, and if you have cou*^* nm
fidence in us, you may, if you will, stop here for th*-*-^ 6
night. You shall be welcome to something to ea-^^^**
and to drink, also to a bed, such as it is, and shelter:^^ 261
until the morning. You may think the accommodation*^ 011
isn't quite up to your idea of comfort, but I thinlC
you'll find it better than being exposed to the we'^^"^ e1
and the cold, and the chances of meeting with som* ^f^n*
of the little unpleasantnesses I have just spoken
about."
The gipsy's proffered hospitality came like a ra^-^^
of sunshine to the benighted traveller, who, withou^^ #D *
the least hesitation, heartily thanked the gipsy, anm^^d
said he would gladly and gratefully accept his invita^^^"
7CES OF GIPSIES— HOSPITALITY TO 8TB ANGERS. 235
tion, and be his guest, at least for that night. He
then seated himself on some straw within the tent,
and tried to feel at home.
The gipsy host then told his wife to brew a pot
of tea, and to bring out what viands she had in
her larder. She did so with apparent good-will,
Although there was nothing particularly rich, rare,
or uncommon in the meal thus provided, the
stranger nevertheless partook of it with gratitude,
but not unmingled with fear, that he might have
to pay very dearly for their hospitality, if not by
sustaining any personal injury, yet by losing the
money he had in his purse.
After tea two or three other gipsy men, occupy-
ing as many adjacent tents, were invited to come to
have a little chat with the stranger, which they were
glad to do to while away the rest of the evening.
Their appearance was not, however, at all reassuring
to the traveller, but rather increased his fear that he
might suffer before he left them; yet he carefully
and judiciously did his best to conceal it from the
gipsies, lest he should rouse their suspicion that he
doubted their honesty, motives, good intentions, and
the genuineness of their hospitality. We hardly need
say that the conversation, although of an erratic
and general character, was carried on in a social,
good-tempered, and somewhat jocular manner.
Smoking was, of course, the accompaniment, varied
now and then with small libations of brandy and
water. The guest began to feel more confidence in
his entertainers and his host, and half regretted
when the time for retiring to rest had arrived.
The gipsies had made arrangements for the wife
236 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
to sleep in another tent with two or three of
the other women, so that her husband and the
stranger should sleep together. The gipsy was
soon oblivious of all earth's joys and woes ; but the
guest remained awake for some time. Somnus at
last came to his aid, and he slumbered on for some
hours. When morning came he found himself un-
injured, and his money safe in his pocket, and half
reproached himself for the hard thoughts he had
indulged in respecting the man who had so oppor-
tunely and generously befriended him.
The gipsy wife in good time came back to her
own tent and set about preparing breakfast, which
was a substantial one, for the gentleman, who
enjoyed it very much more than he did the meal of
the night before. Breakfast being over, the grate-
ful traveller offered to repay the gipsies for their
hospitality, but they peremptorily refused to accept
a farthing.
" No," said the gipsy man ; " thank you all the
same, sir; you are welcome to the little we have
been able to do for you. A fellow has a poor heart
indeed if he couldn't without fee help another out of
a difficulty such as you happened to get into last
night, by taking the wrong road. If you're not in-
clined to stop any longer, I will walk with you]and
put you in the right road for the place you want"
As soon as he had done this, the gipsy guide bade
the traveller a good morning, wished him success,
and said he hoped he wouldn't think quite so hardly
of the gipsy race as many people are in the habit of
doing.
These two men then parted; the one no doubt
VICES OF GIPSIES — iroSPITALTTT TO STTiAXGERS. 237
returned to his rude home in a sequestered Shrop-
shire lane, with the gratification of having sheltered
in a time of need a fellow-creature and human
brother; while the other pursued his way with less
antipathy towards the gipsy people, and with a
resolve to make known to others the hospitality he
had received from these strange nomads. This is
by no means an isolated case, many of a similar
kind could be adduced.
From the above narrative we may imagine that
even gipsies know that one of the greatest luxuries
of life is 11 doing good." It is so, and we may say —
** Han is dear to man ; the poorest poor
Long for some momenta in a weary life
When they can know and feel that they have 1>eeu
Themselves the fathers and the dealers out
Of some small blessing ; have been kind to such
As needed kindness, for this single cause,
That wo have all of us one human heart/ 1
Wordsworth.
A GIPSY WITH A GENEROUS HEART.
The gipsies belonging to the Chilcott family are
supposed to retain the most original and purest
characteristics of these wandering tribes in England,
One of them, we know well, was a person of noble
appearance, and in all respects seemed to be very
superior to most of the women of her own race. At
the time we first became acquainted with her she
was the widow of gipsy Lee, who had been a man
of considerable importance, both in intellect and
position, amongst his own people. This woman had
been very successful in fortune-telling, and, for a
238 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
gipsy, might be said to be " well-off." She was he" ^^eld
in great estimation by the poorer gipsies, to who: «=Dm
she was very generous hearted.
Having a practical knowledge of the condition Ton
and requirements of her own " kith and kin," sT^-»he
was often applied to for counsel in the time of
difficulty, which she always readily gave. Beivr ng
well acquainted with the medicinal properties of
herbs, and of the afflictions common among t-^=±he
gipsies, she often acted as a doctor, not only in pd -re-
scribing what should be done, but in supplying, at
her own expense, the means as a remedy for a«=ny
particular malady that might be brought under h^«rar
notice.
We never visited her tent without receiving ^ a
hearty welcome. In manner she was courteoc— ^
civil and gentle to a degree, and many times invito ^
and pressed us to partake of some kind of refres
ment or other.
The last time we saw her she said, " If ever ycr^* u
should, in your travels, hear of us in any part of tfc^ 16
country, I hope you will come and see us. The va^^* 11
there shall be at your service for the night ; it co^^ n "
tains a good feather bed, and we'll try to make yo^^° u
as comfortable as we can, not forgetting somethin *^**%>
to eat and drink as well."
Of course we thanked the gipsy for her kind offer: ^^ peT '
and promised to avail ourselves of it, if at any tim^*^** 16
occasion should require it. We never had an;
reason to doubt this woman's sincerity, but on
other hand, have always regarded her as a gips^^^ 5 /
possessing a truly generous heart.
VICES OF GIPSIES— HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS. 239
SEARCH FOR A STRAY BULLOCK, AND THE GIPSIES.
The following interesting narrative has been
supplied to us by an old and dear friend, whose
veracity cannot for a moment be questioned. His
story, like the one just given, furnishes different
traits of the gipsy character, especially of their
kindly disposition and hospitable feelings towards
those who may in any way have aided them, and
who show confidence in their honour* Our friend
says :
44 During my boyhood in Dorsetshire I heard and
saw much of the gipsies, and until I became
intimately acquainted with them, was led to believe
they were the most disreputable, deceitful, and
dishonest people in the world. Dreadful stories of
kidnapping children, waylaying country folks, and
robbing and ill-using travellers were related, and in
fact, that no life or property were safe if the gipsies
were in the neighbourhood.
"In my thirteenth year I used to go with a
neighbour, who was a cattle dealer, to various fairs
and markets about the country in the way of his
business. There were no railways there at that time,
so we had to begin our journeys very early in the
morning. My master usually carried his bank notes
in his neckcloth for safety ; and a brace of pistols
were placed under the seat of the gig in case he
might be attacked by gipsies or highway robbers.
u I shall never forget the terror I used to
experience when we came in sight of the fires of the
gipsy encampments, more especially when I was
240 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
returning alone, which I frequently did, sometimes
not reaching home till after midnight ; but I cannot
remember that either my master or myself ever
received the slightest insult or injury from gipsies,
beyond their dogs rushing at us as they passed,
although it is true that on some occasions rather
strong language was used on both sides.
44 After a good deal of observation in passing and
intercourse with the gipsies occasionally, I was
inclined to think they were not such bad and dreadful
creatures as I had been told they were. My more
intimate acquaintance with them began in the fol-
lowing manner : I had been on horseback nearly all
day looking for a strayed bullock without success,
and was returning home at night by a short cut in a
bridle path through a wood. It was very dark, and
I had just reached a gate which divided one part
from another, when a man laid hold of my horse,
saying, * You'll have to bide here a bit, my lad/ I
said, 4 1 can't stop here, I want to get on to see Old
Mark at the turnpike gate, to hear if he knows any-
thing of a bullock we have lost.' He still held the
bridle, and by the sound of subdued voices I con-
cluded I had disturbed a gang of poachers. At last
the man told me I had better go round by the road,
as I might get a knock on the head if I went any
further in the wood.
44 1 could see it was of no use remonstrating with
him, and therefore turned back and got into the lane,
where I found a large number of gipsies round their
fires preparing their evening meal. I asked an old
man, who appeared to be very feeble, and who was
lying by the fire, if any of his people had seen a
T *CES OF GIPSIES — HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS. 241
stray bullock that day, when a boy jumped up by
Ms side and said, 'Grandfather, this is the one who
gave us the milk the tot her day when the nipper
was so bad, I know him very well/ The old man
then invited me to have some supper, and wait until
his sons came, and also told me that most likely they
would be able to help me. Having been in the
saddle nearly all day, I was only too glad to get a
mug of steaming hot coffee, with some delicious
bread and butter, and sit and chat with the old
man,
u Before I left that night about a dozen men came
in, each laden with something under his smock frock
or jacket, which they did not care to show while I
was present ; but I afterwards learned that they were
the party I had disturbed in the wood, and they
laughingly told me that it was a wonder I didn't get
a crack on the head, as they thought I was the head
keeper, who frequently rode round to Bee if his men
were on the watch.
u We had large fields for our cattle near several
places where the gipsies were accustomed to encamp,
and I became a frequent visitor, as my duties lay in
their direction. No matter whatever party came
into the neighbourhood, I had only to mention the
name of old Joe C 1 with whom I had become
quite a favourite, to be received with the greatest
kindness ; and very many happy quiet hours I spent
with them when the day's work was over,
u My friends at last cautioned me, and forbad my
intimacy with them, as they discovered that I some-
times got out of my bed-room window and down the
roof of the old peat house to join the gipsies in their
B
242
OUR GIPSIES IN 0IT7 t TENT, AND VAN.
incursions into the neighbouring woods ; and I am
thankful that I was restrained, for I became so
strangely fascinated by them and the life they led,
that I might have become unsettled and unsuited for
any useful calling. At length I was compelled to
leave the neighbourhood to go and learn a business
in the town, and it was with the greatest regret I
had to give up my acquaintanceship with the
gipsies.
" It is true that my friends and I had helped them
on many occasions in times of distress and sickness;
but their gratitude for little favours, and their
hospitality and kindness to me on all occasions, had
so won my sympathy aud interest in them that I
felt the separation deeply. Although forty years
have passed away since I broke off my acquaintance
with the gipsies of Dorsetshire, I have a vivid
recollection of their attachment to us in return for
little acts of kindness, especially to their children,
making us feel more secure and our property more
safe when they were encamped near us; and here
I m^y add, that they often rendered us valuable
service by their knowledge of the country in tracking
and recovering lost cattle/'
Another instance of the readiness of gipsies to
assist others who may have been overtaken by
calamity may be seen in the following well authen-
ticated story of
THE GIPSY AND THE DROWNED BOY.
Gipsies, especially those who have travelled through
the different counties of England, have their favourite
VIOL'S OF GIPSIES— HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS, 243
camping comers, to which they always resort when
occasion requires ; that is, if they are not prohibited
by the local authorities from doing so. This pre-
ference for some camping spots is owing to a variety
of causes, all of which we need not explain. We
may, however, state that gipsies are often attracted
by the beautiful in Nature as well as by the opinions
they entertain of the population residing in those
parts where they love to sojourn. The gipsy to
whom we are about to refer belonged to a large
encampment pitched in a romantic spot and neigh-
bourhood, which we will now endeavour briefly to
describe.
This home of the gipsies was a wide, mossy, and
grassy dell, which was so secluded that it was but
seldom trodden by the foot of man. On either side
of it were plantations of fir, and here and there were
fine old oak, elm, ash, beech, and chestnut trees. Its
principal forms of life, save when the gipsies were
there, or a stray traveller who now and then would
wend his way through it, were a few rabbits and
hares, and sometimes sheep, looking for ueedtul fond,
and then having their innocent gambols one with the
other, and looking as happy as if in the primeval
paradise.
During the spring and summer this dell and its
surroundings ware full of feathered songsters, which
poured out their sweetest warblings, soft, thrilling,
inspiring, and almost divine. From the summit of
a hill not far off might be seen a far extended
panorama of natural beauty, through which flowed a
river looking like a cord of silver running through
a carpet of green velvet. For charming landscape
k 2
244 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
scenery, Sylvan beauty, and* -splendid prospects, but
few parts of England could vie with the locality in
which the gipsies before mentioned were for a time
sojourning. In addition to the above attractions,
these gipsy wayfarers had on former occasions been
kindly treated by some of the residents round about,
who not only supplied them with a few vegetables
and straw, but showed great leniency towards them,
which is not their lot in every place. But now to
our story.
It was on a fine summer afternoon that a boy,
about eight years of age, was bathing in a piece of
water issuing from some rocks between the dell
where the gipsies were camping and the village to
which the boy belonged. He got out of his depth,
and as no one was there to help him he was drowned,
but not before he was seen by two children who
were returning home from school. One of them ran
back to the village to give the sad intelligence. The
villagers soon assembled in great numbers; drags
were used, and other means were employed to recover
the body. After searching in vain for three hours,
a young man dived to the bottom of the water, and
fortunately touched the body with his feet ; he then
brought it to the surface, and holding it up with
one hand, swam by the aid of the other to the side of
the deep waters. It was then wrapt up in a sheet
a kindly neighbour had taken there for the purpose,
and carried homewards by the unfortunate boy's
elder brother.
In the crowd that followed was a gipsy man be-
longing to the encampment in the dell, and who had
been an eye witness of all that had occurred. Before
VICES OF GIPSIES— HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS* 215
reaching home the gipsy gently laid his hand on the
brother's shoulder, and in a sympathetic tone of voice
said to him, *' I beg your pardon, sir, but you must
be tired ; give me the body, and TO carry it ; you go
on ahead, and break the news to your folks at home,
and Til drop in with the boy directly.'* He did so,
and in a few minutes the child was laid upon his
bed.
The gipsy was deeply affected as he gazed upon
the lifeless body of the boy, who but a few hours
before was buoyant, happy, and full of life. In
addressing himself to the weeping family, especially
to the almost distracted mother, the gipsy said, u It's
a bad job, poor boy; but it can't be helped now;
he's better off, you may depend upon it." He then
left the house, and returned to his camp to rejoin
his own people. This gipsy asked for no reward,
and although one was offered to him he refused to
accept It He seemed to be quite satisfied in having
rendered a little assistance to the bereaved family.
The noble act and the generosity, as well as the
human feeling and sympathy of this wayside gipsy
on the occasion referred to, are still fragrant in the
memories of the family to whom the child belonged.
We may here assert without fear of contradiction
that this gipsy man, by his voluntary help and sym-
pathy, triumphed over the animosity, and hatred
too, which gipsies usually entertain against our own
people, and also showed that these things were not
allowed to stand in the way of the impulses of a
noble and generous heart where human sorrow and
bereavement had fallen upon others.
OlhR BUY KUKlCUK-
CHAPTER XIII.
GIPSY GRATITUDE — SPIRIT OP RKVENQK.
Towor of kindness — An interesting story of a lady and
gipsy family in Buckinghamshire — The roosted hedge
wild flowers, and the bright half-crown — Gipsy spirit
revenge — The man who would join the gipsies — Ilia initio
— His escape — The gipsies on his track, and the result which
followed — Gipsy love and jealousy— Edward Bulwcr, after-
wards Lord Lytton, fascinated by a gipsy girl — Severn!
days at the tent — The young gipsy men threaten him— His
forced departure from the gipsies — A daring act, which
might have cost a life*
" The still small voice of gratitude/*
" And if we do but watch the hour,
There never yet was human power
Which could evade, if un forgiven ,
The patient search and vigil Umj^
Of him who treasure* nj) n wrong**"
GtAT.
BviM
01P8Y QUA T1TUDE — SPIRIT OF BEVENGK 247
Having already shown that gipsies have been, to
the best of their ability, hospitable even to stranger**,
and that as a race they are by no means lacking in
true practical sympathy with others who may be in
sorrow, it may naturally be supposed that they are
susceptible to kindness, for which they have hovn
known to evince in great numbers of cases the most
sincere gratitude.
We think it may be admitted that there is not a
race of human beings, nor a member of the varied
tribes of the lower animals, who are not affected and
influenced by the law of kindness ; and that to a
^.-greater or less extent they have a remembrance of
any act of cruelty or humanity b? which* they may
have been the subjects. The elephant recollects an
injury done to him, and resents it years afterwards.
The horse and dog, after a long separation from a
kind master, will, when they meet, give sundry wags
of the tail and the neigh of recognition, and in other
^waya will show that they have not forgotten his
humane treatment. Even the tiny bird will grieve
when its friend who feeds it is absent, hut will chirp
its delight when she or he returns.
From practical knowledge of the gipsies we can
assert that they, as a people, not only appreciate acts
of kindness, but also retain a very grateful recollec-
tion of them. It can hardly be otherwise, because
kindness, being a source of comfort and pleasure to
those on whom it is bestowed, awakens in them a
feeling of gratitude, whether they are of a generous
or of aaelfish disposition, just as naturally as light
and heat come from the sun.
As an illustration of the correctness of our state-
248 OUR GIP8IE8 IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
ments, we will give the following story, related to us
by a lady residing in Uxbridge, and as nearly as
possible in her own words.
u When I was about fifteen years old," she said,
" I resided with an uncle in the town of Amersham,
Buckinghamshire. One morning a gipsy woman,
carrying a baby not more than fourteen days old,
called at our house. The child was very ill, and
cried as if in great pain ; so I gave it some cordial,
and in a little time it was relieved of its sufferings.
The gipsy mother thanked me many times, with tears
in her eyes, bade me 'good morning ' in the politest
manner imaginable, and then left the house to return,
she said, at once to their tent pitched a short distance
from the town. Before she left, however, I told her I
had always felt an interest in the gipsies, and that if
she should come again to the neighbourhood she was
to be sure and call upon me, and to bring with her the
baby I had fortunately been the means of relieving.
" Seven long years passed away, but I had never
heard a word of either mother or child. I was then,
of course, about twenty-two years old. Year by year
my duties and responsibilities increased in importance
and numbers, and my thoughts were so fully occupied
with domestic and other matters that the gipsy
mother's visit had almost faded from my mind like
a dissolving view. One bright summer morning,
however, a knock was heard at the door, which I
opened myself, and then saw, to my great astonish-
ment, a fine, dark-eyed stalwart gipsy man, with one
hand in his pocket, and bearing on the other arm
a basket apparently well filled with something or
other.
OIPSY GRATITUDE — SPIRIT OF REVENGE. 249
" 4 Good-morning, marin,' said he, 4 good-morning
ee«
44 4 What may yon please to want?' I enquired
ther timidly, which the keen eye of the gipsy
noticed .
44 1 1 begs your pardon, marm ; I hopes I haven't
frightened you/ he said with an assuring Bmile of
good temper ; 1 but 1*11 tell *ee what I tcants. But
first let me ask if you remember a gipsy woman
calling upon you about seven years ago with a little
hiihb}j as mis ill, and that you gave some cordial
to ; eh, marm ? 9
44 In a few moments I told the gipsy I did remem-
ber, but that I had not seen either of them since.
4 Do you know anything of them ? * I enquired.
44 4 Do I know them?* he answered; 4 why bless
you, marm, that was my wife it was, and that was my
babby you was so kind to. She got better, you know,
aud has grown a nice big girl ; I wouldn't part with
her for all the world, no more would my wife either.
But I must tell you that ever since the time you saw
them we've been travelling in the north of England ;
but I don't think as how a single day has passed
without our talking of your kindness to the child.
A few days ago we reached a place about eight or
nine miles from here, and so says I to my wife, I
think I'll go over to Amersham one of these days
and try to find out the young lady as was so kind to
the child, and let her see that we gipsies, bad as we
are, don't easily forget a kind act. And what do you
think my wife said, inarm ? *
44 4 Indeed I cannot tell,' I replied,
444 Why, she said, so you shall, my dear; aud 1*11
260 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
send the young lady something by way of a little *
present, and here it is, marm.'
" He then held up his arm, from which was sus- — J
pended a basket containing the present referred to,
and other little articles, covered over with bouquets a
of wild flowers gathered by the hands of that d%
untutored gipsy from the banks and hedgerows by
the way. Then, taking from his pocket a very ^
bright half-crown which he held in the palm of his e
hand, and looking at it, said, ( And you must take &.
that too, marm ; I've saved him many's a long day to o
give you ; and you must take what the basket has
in it, because my wife said I wasn't to go back 2-1
unless you do so, and you 11 take this 'ere half-crown, « *
wont ee, marm ? 9
" I was literally compelled to accept the presents,
and the money too, in order to satisfy him. In the ^
basket I found some small articles manufactured by
the gipsies, and a roasted hedgehog, considered by this ^
people to be a great delicacy, and which I was given ^
to understand the gipsy woman thought I should
regard as such, and eat with as great a relish as they ^
themselves would have done. I returned the basket
to the gipsy, and of course thanked him for the pre- -
sents, and especially for their grateful remembrance *
of my little kindness to their child seven years before.
He then bade me * good-morning/ and seemed to 4
walk away, if not with all the dignity of a duke, yet
as if satisfied he had discharged an imperative but
pleasant duty.
"As he receded from my view I could hear him
whistling that well known tune 4 yankee doodle went
to town upon a little pony.' He was soon out of
GIPSY GRATITUDE— SPIRIT OF REVENGE. 251
sig-ht ; but from that day to this I have Dot seen or
heard anything either of the gipsy man, his wife, or
their child. Their gratitude, however, is fresh in my
memory* Although several years have rolled away
since my interview with that gipsy, I have not for-
gotten it. Even the increasing cares and anxieties
of advancing life have not obliterated either from
my heart or mind the circumstances I have en-
deavoured to describe/'
Who, after reading the above interesting narrative,
csan say that all the gipsy people are totally destitute
of all good moral characteristics ? or that acta of
Idndncss are not appreciated by them, or that they
sire entirely disregarded and forgotten by them ? We
should have to look a long time before we could find
among our own people a finer appreciation of an act
of kindness than we find in the long cherished
remembrance of the act referred to on the part of
that dark, unlettered gipsy man and his wife.
That some gipsies have been the recipients of
favours for which they have shown hut little gratitude
may be admitted. But this has arisen, in some cases,
from want of opportimitki to express their gratitude
rather than from a want of grateful feeling. If it
were necessary, numbers of proofs of their gratitude
could be adduced of the most authentic kind,
Gipsies know it is their duty to be thankful for
favours shown them, and that in their peculiar con-
dition it is good policy on their part to be so. How
true it is, that the humble current of little kindnesses
poms a copious tribute into the store of human
affections, and does more to soothe the heart and to
soften down the sterner passions of human nature
252 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
than all the compulsory measures in the world could
ever effect.
We remember reading, some years since, the fol-
lowing lines :
" Tender handed squeeze a nettle,
And it stings yon for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.
Thus it is with vulgar natures ;
Treat them kindly, they rebel ;
Use them rough as nutmeg graters,
Then the rogues obey you well."
Although in the above poetic effusion there may
be some ingredients of truth, and some natures in the
world to whom the treatment referred to may be
both necessary and useful, yet from our personal
knowledge of the gipsies we are compelled to state
that the last four lines certainly cannot apply to
them.
GIPSY SPIRIT OP REVENGE.
' It is one of the problems of human nature that in
the very same breast may exist the most conflicting
passions and good moral attributes, which, according
to circumstances, may be made to act in totally
different and opposite ways. The same mind that
cherishes with pleasure the remembrance of a kind
act will also retain with great bitterness of feeling
the recollection of a wrong done, or an insult offered,
especially by those who entertain a high sense of
their own honour.
If the gipsies never forget an act of kindness,
they seldom forgive those who have intentionally done
them an injury, whether it has been by maliciously
OIPST GRATITUDE — SPIRIT OF REVENGE. 253
giving information againBt them to the civil autho-
rities, or by betraying the confidence they have
reposed in them. Those who have joined the gipsy
fraternity, and afterwards revealed to others the
secrets and mode of their initiation, have sometimes
been the victims of a spirit of deep, dark, and bitter
revenge, which is one, if not the worst, trait of the
gipsy character. Instances are known in which men
of good position in society, and with a naturally
strong love of the romantic, have, under some un-
controllable power and fascination, as evanescent
as the floating mist, been induced to apply for
admission amongst the gipsies, which has taken
place by a sort of freemasonry process, but who,
tiring of such a life, have laid their plans to leave
it, have succeeded in doing so, but at a terrible cost,
as the following story will show*
Some years since we were having a pleasant
country drive with a friend residing at Tring, and
who was much interested in the gipsy race. In our
journey we happened to meet a gipsy woman, whicli
reminded our friend of a story he said he had read,
and which in substance was as follows. As we
have no reason to doubt the accuracy of our friend's
information, we give it here as an illustration of one
characteristic of the gipsy people as shown under
similar circumstances to those we are about to
relate,
•* A few years since," he said, u some gipsies who
were encamped in the north were visited by a
person who had the appearance of a well-to-do
gentleman. He was about thirty years of age, full
of life and energy. At the time of his visit to the
254 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
camp he was romowhat elated by wine, of which it
appeal's he had partaken with some acquaintance
living not far off. What he saw at the encampment
that so attracted and lured him on to take the couxve
he did, we do not pretend to know. But as there
never was an effect without a cause, it is indis-
putably certain that he was under some kind of
influence which he could not resist. At any rate,
he was Lent upon becoming a member of the gipsy
fraternity, and expressed his willingness to be made
so according to the rites and customs usually ob-
served by gipsies on these occasions.
"It is, however, right to state, that seeing the
anti-temperance condition of the young man's brain
when he made this request, the gipsies at first
objected to comply with his wish. Yet an offer of
money by him was too tempting to their cupidity
for them to refuse so good a chance of thus easily
obtaining the sum he offered. The gipsies therefore
complied with the wish of the gentleman, who made
a vow that he would be true to the conditions im-
posed upon him, would faithfully fulfil the promises
he had made, that he would reveal none of their
secrets, but would in every way promote the
interests of the gang to which he had become
united.
" But the sound sleep of a long night changed the
entire aspect of affairs, at least, to his mind. His
brain had become clearer, and as he began to realize
his position, and to remember the transactions of the
previous day, and also to look upon his ne w companions
and their strange surroundings, he felt a pang of
regret for acting in the foolish manner he had done.
GIPSY GRATITUDE — SPIRIT OF REVENGE, 255
a was by no means in the best of moods ; in fact
became taciturn, sullen, dissatisfied, and uneasy,
iich did not escape the eyes of the gipsies. His
:>vements, and many little hints he now and then
rew out, made the gipsies suspicions that he would
eiiipt at some time or other to make his escape*
*b* caused them to be on the alert, and to keep a
rict watch over him, so as to prevent him from
rrying out his purpose.
" The reasons, our friend supposed, the gipsies
\d for using these precautionary measures were,
nst, that if they could only reconcile him to reinnin
ith them, and to become accustomed to their own
•ee mode of life, they would have every chance of
wiving from hiin, or through him, supplies of
loncy, of which they were no doubt very often in
L eed; the other reason, he thought, might be that
s the gipsies had in the ceremonies of the previous
Ifiy made known to their new member many, if not
dl the secrets of their craft, they would be afraid
f he left them that he would divulge some of these
secrete to others, and so thereby increase the ill-
eeling already existing against them, and perhaps,
n some way or other, bring trouble upon them.
* Be this as it may, the gentleman succeeded after a
short sojourn in getting out of the clutches of these
wandering gipsies. It appears that he at once made
Ids way home, where, through fear, he remained in
« elusion a long time. But the gipsies found him
out, and at intervals gave palpable proofs of their
presence in the neighbourhood of his residence.
Finding he was likely to be annoyed by these men,
who he had reason to believe belonged to the
256
OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
encampment he had left, he resolved tipon going
to the Continent, thinking he should there be free
from molestation. He therefore embarked on board
a steamer about to leave one of our northern ports
for Hamburgh. At the time she was due there, two
gipsy men were waiting on the quay for her arrival,
but she did not make her appearance, much to their*
disappointment.
" These men then ascertained that the vessel thej^
had waited for had put into another port, into which*
she had been driven by stress of weather. They
hastened thither in hope of coming in contact witfci
the man they wanted. Although they made many
enquiries, and gave a description of him, they diJ
not succeed in finding him. They were, however,
informed that such a person had landed there from
the Hamburgh steamer, and was supposed to have
gone in the direction of Italy.
" The energy of the spirit of revenge brooding in
the hearts of these men increased their efforts and
strengthened their determination to overtake and to
punish him. To Italy they went, but after a long
search failed to find him. They then returned to
their family, still camping here and there in the
north, to bide their time, to keep on the alert, and
to make enquiries, which they did in many in-
direct ways, about the return of the man they still
felt resolved to castigate, even more severely than at
first, because of the money and time they had wasted
in pursuing him.
" After the lapse of several months he did return
from the Continent, and of course went direct to his
home in the north, where he deemed it necessary to
GTPS7 GRATITUDE— BP1H1T OF REVENGE.
remain secluded for awhile. The gipsies having
heard of his return, set about forming new plans in
order to have their revenge.
" It happened that the gentleman some time after
this had a ball at his mansion » which was attended
by a large party of friends. It was a grand festive
night ; the rooms were brilliantly illuminated, music
resounded through every part of the spacious
building, and there was nothing wanting to con-
tribute to the happiness of the host or the enjoyment
of his guests.
"It was getting rather late; the company had
reached the climax of pleasurable excitement when
one of the servants announced to the host that a
person then waiting outside the front door, having
refused to enter, had a very important message
which he was to deliver to him and to him only.
The gentleman, thrown off his guard, hastened
thither, when suddenly from behind one of the
pillars of the portico a man of stalwart frame, wrapt
up in a long top coat, and with his face partially
hidden, in a moment rushed upon the host, and with
a short dagger inflicted a wound in his side, and
threw him to the ground. He then with a subdued
hut exultant yell left the door, and running with all
his might soon disappeared in the darkness.
" The guests, who were informed by the servant of
what had occurred, became alarmed. But as this
villainous attempt on the life of their host occupied
everybody's attention, it was too late to give pursuit
to the man who had committed this foul act.
" Although subsequently suspicion fell upon one of
the gipsy men belonging to the encampment before
s
258 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
mentioned, and who having been found was charged
with this murderous intention, our friend said that
as the wound inflicted upon the complainant did
not prove fatal, summary punishment only was
inflicted upon the gipsy, who thus, but very
narrowly, escaped the graver charge of having
committed murder. Our informant said that the
man who committed the act was no doubt one of the
gipsies who had been on the Continent in search of
the man who had, as before described, been initiated
into the gipsy fraternity, and that subsequent events
seemed to point to the correctness of this supposition,
It appears the gipsies at once left the neighbour-
hood, and as nothing was heard of their whereabouts,
the gentleman at the mansion lived there a long
time without further annoyance from the gipsies,
whose acquaintance he had made at so terrible a
cost"
GISPY LOVE AND JEALOUSY.
From the ' Life and Letters of the late Edward
Bulwer Lord Lytton,' we gather the following
account of a little adventure of his when a young
man about twenty-one years of age.
It appears that on one occasion when walking
homewards he was accosted by a gipsy girl, who
said she should like to tell him his fortune. He
was so struck with the beauty of this young sybil
that he at once crossed her hand with a piece of
silver, and told her to proceed. She did so, reading
very carefully the lines on his hand, and then told
him what they indicated in reference to his future
life. After this he asked her several questions
GIPSY GRATITUDE— SPIRIT OF REVENGE* 259
respecting her own people, all of which she
answered so intelligently and simply that he was
induced to ask her if she thought there would be
any objection to his remaining with her and her
tribe for a few days. To this she answered, " there
would be no objection on their part, if he as a
gentleman could put up with their kind of life/'
They then walked on together until they came
to a large tent, into which he was led by the girl,
and then introduced to an aged gipsy woman, who
sat bending over a wood fire* To her the child said
something, but she shook her head in dissent. The
gipsy girl, however, persevered, and at last talked
the old woman into acquiescence* Having arranged
for him to remain with them, the girl said if he had
any money with him be had better give it up to her
grandmother, as it would be safer than in his
own pocket, and that when he wished to leave
ihem it would be returned to him. He did as the
girl wished him, and the money slid into the old
gipsy's pocket.
After this the old woman strewed on the ground
some embers from the fire, and bade young Bulwer
stand in them- She then sent the girl (who was
her granddaughter) for the other gipsies, about a
dozen in number, who all came and looked on. The
aged gipsy woman then took his right hand in hers,
and pointing to the embers beneath his feet,
addressed the assembly in the gipsy tongue. The
gipsies all stood listening reverently. When she had
finished they bowed their heads, and then by word
and sign made him understand he was welcome to
the gipsy cheer,
s 2
260 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND V4N.
They then seated themselves round the great
fire, over which was a large pot containing bread,
potatoes, fragments of meat stewed to rags, and
savoured with herbs. Of this they all, by-and-by,
partook with a great relish. The grandmother,
however, had a dish of her own, namely, a broiled
hedgehog that had been found in a trap.
During the young man's stay of five or six days
it was evident the gipsy girl's affection was fixed
upon him, and of which she gave many unmistakable
signs. Her simple but endearing manner had also
produced the same effect upon young Bulwer, who
had even loved her from the moment when he met
her as before described.
One morning she was reserved and cool, and
being asked by the young man the reason, she said
abruptly, " Tell me, and tell me truly, do you love
me ? " to which he replied, " I do."
" Will you marry me then ? " she asked him.
" Marry you ! " he said — " impossible."
The girl thinking he did not quite understand her
meaning said, " I don't mean marry me as you
marry, but marry me as we marry," which she
said was simply for the two to break a piece of
burnt earth or a tile into halves in the presence of
her grandmother. " If we do this our marriage will
last five years." Although he did not consent to
this proposition, the girl looked, just at that time, to
him more charming than ever.
On that evening and the next day he discovered
he had excited the ill-will of two or three of the
young gipsy men, who were rude and insolent to
him, and told him he had been long enough there,
■
0IP8T GRATITUDE — SPIRIT OF REVENGE. 261
and was in their way. Young Bulwer and the girl
then walked a short way from the tent, but were
followed by the gipsy men, who glared angrily at
them as they passed. The girl, however, spoke to
them, high words passed, but at last the gipsy men
sullenly slunk away.
It was night, all in the tents were asleep save the
old woman, the girl, and young Bulwer, who was
lying in a corner of the encampment, and while
there saw the gipsy girl and her grandmother go
out of the tent. He then crept from his corner and
stepped into the open air.
He found the old crone and the child under the
shadow of the wood, and saw the girl was weeping.
The old woman put her fingers to her lips, and then
told him to follow her through a gap in the hedge
into the shelter of the wood itself. The girl
remained with her face buried in her hands.
When they were in the wood the old gipsy said
to him, " You must leave us, you're in danger,
The young men are jealous of you; their blood's
up ; I cannot keep it down ; I can do what I like
with all except love and jealousy ; you must go,**
But he gave her to understand that he could not
go and lea ve the girl he then loved so much behind
him.
But both said " it must be so/* They knew the
feeling of jealousy was becoming stronger against
him every hour, and that there was danger of their
guest being injured by the young gipsy men who
had already been insolent to him, and had told him
to be off.
Finding that matters were assuming a serious
262 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
aspect, Bulwer told the old woman she might give
the money he had handed to her to the gipsy met*
if they would only allow him to remain there ^
week or two longer. After some more conversation
on the subject of his departure, the two women an^
their guest retired to their respective places of res0^'
But an uneasy night was passed by the latter, wh^^
slept later than usual.
When he awoke he found the gipsies assemblecSS
round the tent. The young men who had previously*
exhibited so much jealousy were there, shook handi— M
with him, and looked friendly. He thought th^^
bribe had brought about the change. He ™ a m T
however, mistaken, for they said to him, " You mus^Vt
leave us ; we'll accompany you part of the way, anc^B
wish you speed and luck."
Bulwer then turned round to look for Mirny (ai* — 3
he called the gipsy girl), but she was gone ; there^S
was his breakfast which had been prepared by the^^s
old gipsy, but he left it untouched. He then aske d
the grandmother if he should not see the girl again ?^»?
" Husb ! " said the gipsy ; " leave that to me.'* He ^
then took his knapsack and was going, when the old
woman drew him aside and slipped his money into ^
his hand, every farthing of it, and would not take ^
a penny, although he pressed her to do so. The men
accompanied him as they hp,d promised, and then
formally took leave of him.
Three miles further on he was startled by the
rustling of the thick branches of a tree, from behind
which came Mirny. In a moment she was by his
side, then tightly holding him in her arms looked
into his eyes, kissed his face and even his garments.
■
GIPSY GRATITUDE— SPIRIT OF REVENGE, 2G3
In a minute she sprang away, and pointing with her
finger to her open palm said, "This is the sorrow
foretold to me ; see, it begins so soon, and goes on to
the end of life/* She darted into the wood ; pursuit
was in vain ; she was gone, and lost to young Bulwer
for ever.
A DARING ACT.
We received the following information from a
person who assured us he was well acquainted with
the circumstances of the case we are about to relate.
The annual fair held in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire,
is usually attended by great numbers of gipsies. On
one occasion a gipsy girl about eighteen years old,
and of great personal beauty, was at the fair, but
spent part of the day in calling at different houses
in order to dispose of a few clothes-pegs, tin-ware,
combs, and other small articles.
She happened when thus engaged to meet a
young man, a visitor at the fair, who had indulged
much too freely in beer, and who not only accosted
her in a very familiar way, but laying his hands on
her shoulders, and before she was aware of his
intentions, gave her a kiss. She became exceedingly
angry, and gave him to understand he might have
to repent of his impudent and daring act. Instead
of offering an apology, he made himself more
obnoxious to the girl by laughing at her for making
such a fuss about a simple kiss.
When she returned to the tent at night she told
her people what had occurred, gave a description of
the man, and all the information she could about
him* Two of the giffsy men, one the brother, tbc
264 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
other the affianced husband of the girl, swore to
avenge the insult she had been subjected to, by
inflicting on the fellow, in their own peculiar way,
the most severe punishment.
Urged on by the spirit of revenge, they succeeded
in obtaining some clue to his whereabouts, and as the
gipsies had been seen near there, and their intentions
being well known, the delinquent became fearful that
if he remained there he might have to suffer some
" grievous bodily harm " for the liberty he had taken
with the gipsy girl. He therefore wisely left the
neighbourhood, where he had lived some time, and
had to go to another some distance off, in order to
escape the vengeance of the gipsy men. Whether
the young man was afterwards found out or not and
punished for his conduct by any member of the
gipsy tribe our informant knew not. But as an
injury done by any one to a gipsy is always
made known, and a description of the offender
given to other gipsies traversing different parts of
the country, they constitute a net work of detectives,
ever on the look out for the party they want to
punish. The pleasure of giving a kiss, even to a
pretty gipsy girl, is hardly worth running the risk
of an unpleasant and severe chastisement from the
hands of gipsy men, which may, in all probability
sooner or later, overtake the person who has insulted
them, no matter in what way it has been done.
Companionship — Alleged cruelty by the gipsies— Blackhoath,
and Hampatead Heath— Poisonous drugs and powders — Acts
of which gipsies are not guilty— What Augustus Sala saya—
A Somers Town gipsy scissors grinder and his donkey
" Jack '—Old " Jet " and her sand bank stable— The dogs of
gipsies — A gipsy girl and her cat — Gipsies and their
feathered companions— A bantam cock with gold rings*
The man who cannot love a horse or dog
Must bo in nature harder than the hog,
E'en gipsies, though a rude and wandering race,
Have hearts in which affection has a place;
They love each other — just as others do ;
They love their horses, dogs, and donkeys too.
The companionship of human friends, and even of
animals, is often a reliever of the monotony of life,
266 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and, in some cases, helps to soften the sorrows and
to lighten the troubles which are, more or less, the
lot of all mankind. It is especially so to those who
have confidence in the sincerity and sympathy ot
their fellow-men ; and who watch the instincts, aflFec- —
tion, fidelity, love, hatred, and the mental qualities
even of the lower animals, by whom many happy
and encouraging thoughts are suggested, and from-^n
whom may be derived many practical and usefuL^C
lessons.
Much as the gipsies have been accused of being
coarse and even brutish race, they neverthele
exhibit a kindly feeling and thoughtfulness toward
all with whom they are associated. Their treatment
of animals is worthy of notice. We have already
observed that one prolific source of gain to some
gipsies is that of horse-dealing. They may be see
at many of our markets and fairs with numbers oi
horses, ponies, and donkeys, whose condition is often
very bad. It is only fair to state that these animal
are frequently purchased by them in this state at m~
very low price. They are, however, often carefully
tended and well fed, perhaps at the expense of somo
other person's rich pasture, and then sold at a larg^
profit.
It is unfortunate for the gipsies that there are
many persons who take advantage of every oppor-
tunity to magnify their faults, and who endeavour
to embitter public feeling against them by giving"
dark pictures of cruelty to their horses, and es-
pecially to their donkeys on Hampstead Heath,
Blackheath, at feasts, fairs, and races, and seaside
resorts, where they let them out to young ladies or
i
W0MK2NG AND PET ANIMALS OF GIPSIES. 267
gentlemen, or to anybody else, at a penny a ride for
bo many turns of a certain distance, or for so much
money per hour or half hour, as may be agreed
upon.
That the sides of gipsy donkeys are familiar with
the weight of thick sticks and the butt ends of
whips, that the sounds of the thwacks they receive
are often heard above the noise of the congregated
masses of men, women, and children, and that the
poor belaboured animals are sometimes ready to fall
down from sheer exhaustion, is unfortunately too
true.
But are the gipsies alone to blame for this treat-
ment ? The places referred to are more favourable
to the gipsies than any other for making a little
extra money. They are their harvest fields, which
they won't neglect if they can help it. We admit,
however, that this is no justification for the cruelty
which, in these places, is often inflicted upon these
poor dumb dependents.
If a visitor to the places mentioned will pay
attention to the bargains made for donkey rides, and
to the conditions that even fair young ladies and
accomplished yaung gentlemen impose upon the owners
to make the animals " go fast/' and also to the
threats, " that if they don't do so they won't pay
them any money,** such visitor will soon discover
that gipsy boys and men have to run, and to work
too hard for the pittance they get to be cruel from
choice, or to be exclusively guilty of this species of
inhumanity, or to derive any pleasure from ill-using
the animals whom they well know are their bread-
" iners*
268 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
It is well known that many gipsies regret to treat
their animals in this way, and that they do not
hesitate to charge those who hire them on the
conditions described as being the principal cause of
the cruelties they inflict, because they must at any
price be gratified with a donkey ride but according
to their own notions and fancies of equestrian
enjoyment.
While we may see from the foregoing observations
that the gipsies may justly claim exemption, in a
considerable degree, from charges of wanton cruelty
to their animals, we are compelled to accuse them of
being less considerate of those belonging to other
people ; and as we have no desire to be monocular
in our views of the habits, character, and customs of
the gipsies, we will quote what George Borrow says
respecting certain practices of which they are some-
times guilty.
POISONOUS DRUGS AND POWDERS
are used by gipsies, not only in Spain, but also &
England, in two ways ; " by one they merely cause
disease in the animals, with the view of receiving
money for curing them upon offering their services;
the poison is generally administered by powders
cast at night into the mangers of the animals ; this
way is only practised upon the larger cattle, such as
horses and cows." The other, which they practice
chiefly on swine, is explained in detail in the
seventh chapter.
There is no doubt that a feeling of revenge
against their enemies, and the poverty of some of
WORKING AND PET ANIMALS OF GIPSIES, 269
fie gipsies, have much to do with the above cruel
ractices.
Although it must be admitted that gipsies have
een justly charged and fined for cruelty to their
working animals, yet such cases are by no means
umerous, especially when we consider that nearly
[I gipsy families possess one or more horses or
Diikeys for their own use, and that many gipsy
orse-dealers have sometimes in their possession great
umbers of these animals. In many cases the cruelty
rith which these men are charged is more of a uega-
ive than of a positive character, arising generally
rom an inability on the part of their owners to procure
or their animals a sufficient amount of proper food.
If those acts of inhumanity of which the gipsies
lave been found to be guilty be compared with many
)f those committed by other men who have higher
pretensions to education, refinement, and social
position than gipsies aspire to, we shall discover a
wide difference in the amount of moral guilt that
ibould be attached to them. While gipsy cruelty
consists in most cases of working horses in an unfit
state, gipsies are rarely guilty of what we may term
ntentional, wanton, flagrant, and atrocious acts of
;ruelty.
Among men of our own race may be found those
in possession of the most cruel and demoralizing
instincts. In fact we could relate acts of cruelty
committed by them which would not only horrify
but even terrify those who have the smallest spark of
humanity in their hearts. No savage, maddened by
the prospect of a feast of human blood, could be more
ngeniously wicked in the cruel tortures he might
270 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
inflict to secure his victim than are some men w^B&o
denounce the gipsies as a dark, degraded, ignoratnz^A,
rough, and brutal race.
We do not pretend to know all the secret or pubET—lic
acts of cruelty committed by our gipsy nomads, b^^Dut
we may confidently state that we have no persoi«mial
knowledge of the gipsies ever 'participating either in
the sport of pigeon shooting or of fox hunting, in
badger baiting, or cock fighting. We are not awaJM ' e,
though fond as they are of keeping dogs, that th^ ey
train them to fight in order to gain amusement fro^=>m
such savage encounters.
As lovers of the solitude of our woods and glerr=w,
gipsies seem to value too highly the feather^^d
musicians of Nature and their sweet songs ever to
guilty of that fearful crime of snaring them and th^^ n
running red-hot wires through their eyes to ma^^ e
them sing better, in hope of obtaining, on tL^ in
account, a much higher price for them. But let H^^J
reader traverse some low parts of London, pay a vi^^ 1 *
to bird-fair, and peer into the dingy shops often fi^ ^
of birds, but many of them sightless through tL-^ ,e
practice we have referred to, and let him enquire wl*^ 30
have secured these little frail prisoners and performc^^^
the shocking, cruel, and abominable operations v^* e
have mentioned. We do not hesitate to say th^^
gipsies were not the agents, but men of our own rac^*
with far less feeling hearts even than those possessed
by the most degraded and untutored gipsies.
Although we have been compelled to draw a some-
what dark picture of the life of those gipsy donkeys
found in the suburban parts of London and other
large towns where they are employed as already
WOH KINO AND PET ANIMALS OF GIPSIES. 271
described, and sometimes so cruelly treated, yet there
is another aspect of gipsy donkey life which should not
be overlooked. We refer particularly to those who
live the most of their time in remote districts, and
but seldom, if ever, visit the great centres of commer-
cial life, activity, and fashionable pleasures. It is of
these rustic quadrupeds that
AUGUSTUS BALA BATS :
"Of all the indigent owners of asses in England, I
am inclined to think the gipsies treat their donkeys
with the smallest amount of unkindness. In the
first place, their nomadic existence enables them to
give the animals plenty of fresh fodder. The soft
little grey foalsgrow up with the browned-skin Romany
children, and in the end a Bohemian, or rather a
Bedouin tent kind of camaraderie grows up between
the two-footed and the four-footed wanderers. The
gipsy's donkey is usually plump, his eye is usually
bright, and his nose has a contented air; symptoms
which, without being the slightest judge of assinine
science, I always accept as proofs of a donkey s pros-
perity in the world,"
The donkey we are now about to refer to appears
to have been equally fortunate as those so truly
described by Mr. Sala in the preceding lines. This
animal belonged, not a very long time since, to
A SOMERS TOWN GIPSY SCISSORS GRINDER,
and was certainly one of the finest donkeys in
London, From its sleek appearance, good condition,
272 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and well curried coat, any one might have guaranteed
that had it been exhibited at any of the popular
Crystal Palace donkey shows, it would have gained
a prize and won for its owner a medal for his
humanity. "Jack" was the name of this animal,
and its master a mender of pots and kettles, a
scissors and knife grinder. The gipsy used neither
goad, whip, nor stick to make Jack perform his
duty; and he told us that he never intended his
donkey to make the acquaintance of either of those
instruments of torture. He had so trained the
animal that a motion, a word, or a look was quite
sufficient for Jack to understand his master.
On one occasion we were in conversation with
the gipsy, when we saw the donkey look round to
where we were standing. After a few minutes he
looked round again, and made a noise very much
like a subdued grunt.
" What does your donkey mean ? " we asked the
gipsy-
" O, sir ! " he said, " you must know that I go my
regular rounds every day, which Jack knows as
well as I do ; so he wants to get through his work,
and home to his food, for you see, sir, I give him
plenty of it and good ; and in addition to that he has
comfortable quarters out of the wet and cold.
Jack wants me to be moving ; but go on, sir, and
he'll give me another kind of reminder directly,
you'll see."
This was soon given, by Jack shaking the
harness, the razor-grinding machine, and the whole
paraphernalia of tinkering ; and then by a pawing
of the ground with his fore-feet, another turn of
WOn KING AND PET ANIMALS OF GIPSIES. 273
t' 1 ^ bead, and finally by a sonorous braying almost
» s loud and musical as a dozen trombones playing at
same time.
**Now then, sir/* said the gipsy, "I must be
°^ ; Jack thinks IVe gossiped long enough, and
V^rhaps he's right, for the days are short, and the
leather cold. So Til bid you good-morning/'
Jack trotted off and his master after him. Both
were soon out of sight, but not out of mind. What
we had seen strengthened our impression that gipsies
are, after all, as humane and kind to their animals
as other folks are. Jack was not only well fed, but
full of spirits, active and intelligent, which the gipsy
seemed to be proud of and to appreciate. Through
proper treatment Jack was able in an eminent
degree to contribute not only to his own comfort,
biit to the maintenance of a whole gipsy family.
^nme time ago a gentleman told us that he knew
of a dying gipsy who bequeathed to his surviving
family a favourite donkey, conditionally that they
used him well Thev did so, and when he became
too feeble to work he was tied to the hindermost
portion of the cart, which it followed in their journeys.
Failing strength at last compelled them to end his
life; his skin was taken off, cured, and kept as a
souvenir for many years,
OLD "JET," AND HER SAND BANK STABLE*
The following story of the humane treatment of i\n
old mare named Jet, which was sold by a gentle-
man we knew very intimately to some gipsies
encamped on an adjacent common, may be perused
274 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
with interest. Jet had always been well fed by
her previous owner, and carefully groomed, and as
she had never been overworked, a good part of her
life had been a tolerably happy and pleasant one.
Whatever other reason old Jets master could
have assigned for parting with her, one was that
a member of the encampment referred to expressed a
wish to purchase the mare. It was in the middle of
a very severe winter that Jet was sold to this
man, conditionally that he would promise to use her
well, which assurance he readily gave.
Some days after Jets departure we visited the
gipsies on the common for the purpose of ascertaining
how it fared with her. As we approached the tents,
which were several in number, we heard the mingled
voices of men and women, and the merry noise of
children, but saw no sign of the old mare. " Sold to
some one else, or dead through starvation and cold,"
were the first thoughts- that flitted through our mind.
At this moment one of the gipsy men suddenly
appeared, and asked somewhat abruptly what we
wanted. We informed him that a few days pre-
viously either he or one of the gipsies there encamped
had purchased from a gentleman a mare called Jet,
and that we were anxious to know what had become
of her.
The gipsy smiled, and said, "The animal's all
right, sir, she's out of the cold, has plenty to eat,
and is as snug as we are in our tents, for she has
one of her own, you see, and can't help being
comfortable, 'specially as she has nothing to do just
now, which seems to agree with the * old girl '
very well."
WOn KING AND PET ANIMALS OF GIPSIES. 275
All the gipsy had said was true. They had made,
by cutting into an embankment of sand, a temporary
stable, the roof of which was of sticks and straw,
and sods intended to keep them in place. Although
Jet was somewhat cramped for room, she had plenty
of provender, was well sheltered from the cold north-
east wind, and really looked none the worse for an
exchange of masters. We hardly need say that this
sand bank stable, which was fully the length of
the mare's body, had no other means of ventilation
and of light than the entrance into it, which,
having a southern aspect, implied protection from
the cold wind which might blow from the opposite
direction.
"You needn't be uneasy about the old mare,
"young man," said the gipsy, u Well take care of
lier, and treat her well, not only for our own sakes
Imt for his who sold her to us* We rather think
lie is a good sort, at any rate he's been kinder to us
than some of your folks are in the habit of being,"
.After this visit we saw no more of poor old Jet, but
often wished she might always receive the same
kindness she did when she began her nomadic
career.
As a race the gipsies do not overload or overdrive
their animals, either in their ordinary hawking
business, or when performing long journeys- A
rural policeman once said to us, " It is a notable
fact, sir, that when they stop at roadside inns for
refreshment the gipsies very seldom regale them-
selves before ungearing their horses, ponies and
donkeys for the purpose of giving them something
to eat and drink,"
T 2
276 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
THE DOGS OP GIPSIES
are kindly treated and valued by their owners
because of their utility, especially in guarding their
vans and other property, and even their children,
during the time the adults are absent from them.
In training them for this and other purposes, we
are not aware that any unnecessary severity is used.
We have had opportunities of witnessing some very
interesting feats performed by dogs belonging to
gipsies, which have not only given proofs of the
intelligence of these animals, but also of kind treat-
ment extended to them during the period of training.
Gipsy dogs seem to understand that they are ex-
pected to be always on the watch, and that when a
stranger makes his appearance at the encampment,
to exercise something like a detective qualification
as to the character and intentions of the visitor. Of
course gipsy dogs are not thought-readers, and
sometimes commit great blunders by exhibitions of
ferocity and loud barkings at those who may have
sympathy with and the best of all feelings towards
the gipsy race. Nevertheless, they show their fidelity
to their owners even in their mistaken hostility to
others. They act according to their knowledge and
judgment, and seem to say to strangers whom they
may regard as intruders, " Mind what you do ; I
am in great authority here, and may interfere with
you if your conduct should in any way require me
to do so."
It was on a calm evening in autumn, just as the
twilight was deepening into darkness, that we paid
WORKING AND PET ANIMALS OF GIPSIES. 277
a visit to one of the Smith family of gipsies, when
suddenly from behind a large tent came a lurcher
dog, as if intent upon giving us a practical proof
o| his right and power to punish us for assuming to
come within the precincts of gipsydom. Being just
light enough for the dog to see that our eye was
fixed at the same moment upon his, and hearing us
say, ** Beside lay jukd* (lie down, dog), it had the
wonderful effect, not only of stopping his barking,
but making him drop his tail, turn round, and slink
back again to his place behind the tent. " Ha !
lia ! M half laughingly said the gipsy, ** the dog
will not disturb you again, for you may depend
tipon it he'll imagine because yon said thai hit of
gipsy that you are one of our men, as I don t
suppose he ever heard in his life before any Gorjo
use a word or sentence of our own dialect."
GIPSIES AND THE CATS,
It may at first sight appear to be a very remark-
able thing that while horses, ponies, donkeys, fowls,
parrots, canaries, and other song birds often form a
part of gipsy encampments, we have no recollection
of ever having seen a cat of any breed or colour in
company with gipsies. Perhaps the wandering life
of this people constitutes the reason why cats are but
seldom seen among them.
Leland says : ** One day I questioned a gipsy as to
cats, and what his opinion was of black ones?"
His reply was, M Gipsies never have black cats in the
house, because they are unearthly creatures, and
things of the devil ; and the old devil, you know, is
278 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND FAN.
black, and has four legs, and two arms, and a head.
But white cats are good, for they are like the white
ghosts of ladies/'
A GIPSY GIRL AND HER CAT.
A correspondent of the Animal World says:
" While taking a country walk I met a young gipsy
girl carrying a large open basket, in which a fine
tabby cat was contentedly seated. The girl told me
she had the cat when a kitten, and was very fond of
it, a fact borne out by its good condition and perfect
tameness ; she said it would follow like a dog, and
they were not a bit afraid of losing it, for it never
tried to get away from them, and always went with
them in their migrations. Does not the humanity of
the homeless gipsy teach a lesson of kindness to
many persons who, though in much better circum-
stances, leave their cats in empty houses to starve ? "
GIPSIES AND THEIR FEATHERED COMPANIONS.
We have already intimated that some gipsies keep
pet birds, to which they become much attached, and
often regard as companions essential to their own
happiness.
On the occasion of one of our visits to Sylvester
Boswell we noticed a nearly full grown fowl in close
proximity to his tent and van looking for its morning
meal. He informed us that when the fowl was only
two days old it lost its maternal parent, who was
killed by accident. The gipsy carefully fed it, ten-
derly carried it in his bosom for warmth, and con-
WOBKINQ AND PET ANIMALS OF GIPSIES. 279
tinned to do so until it was able to run about. When
sufficiently grown, it would roost under the tent, was
his companion by night, and during the daytime
when he was at home it would follow him about like
a child.
A lady of Colchester told us that when she was a
girl and lived near Sudbury some gipsies were in the
habit of tenting near her father's farm, and that
she had often seen a bantam cock, that wore a gold
ring in each wattle, standing on the back of a pony,
which position it always occupied when travelling.
These animals belonged to the gipsies, with whom
they were great favourites, and who treated them
with much care and kindness.
The lady also informed us that her father some-
times gave these gipsies a little straw, a few turnips
and other things, and that he never had reason to
complain of their incivility or dishonesty during the
luany times they sojourned near his farm.
Qirsy GIRL AT 1'RAYKtt.
CHAPTER XV.
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND DREAMS OF UIPSIK
Religious notions of gipsies — Have no books, record*, or
lexicons — Notion of tho Wallachians — Mother Stanley*
idea of God and His mercy — Transmigration — The gipy
who didn't like ceremony— Gipsies at a cathedral service
and what they thought of it — The old gipsy whose clothe*
were not a good fit — A gipsy lectures the author— Tb*
gipsy chief and his child — Superstitions and dreams rf
the gipsies — " The evil eye,*' &c.
" Lulled in thv countless ehamlKjrs uf tht« brain.
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain;
Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise !
Each stamps its image as the other flies !
Each! as the various avenues of sense
1 >c light or sorrow to the soul dispense*
Brightens or fades ; yet all with magic art
Control the latent fibres of the heart." Ro>fltf.
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND D REAMS. 281
One false impression existing respecting the gipsies
f this country is that, in consequence of their want
f proper education, their erratic mode of life, and
umerous demoralizing associations, there can be no
ntiment among them; that they have no disposition
r capability to moralize, and have no power to
onvey their ideas and meaning in suitable language,
his may be true of some, but not of all of them.
Many of them are naturally shrewd and intelligent ;
nd the confident manner and fluency of speech with
hich they are capable of addressing others are very
remarkable-
Believing, however, that the common mode adopted
by this people in expressing themselves, and their
mutilation of several words in the English language,
would be neither profitable nor interesting to the
reader, we have chosen in the speech made by the
gipsy, recorded further on in this chapter, respecting
ourselves as a people, to convey his ideas and senti-
ments in language considerably modified, without
distorting his meaning or his intentions in what he
tsaid.
Having referred to the social life, moral charac-
teristics, and mental capacities of the gipsy nice,
Ave shall now refer to the
aellQlOUS NOTIONS OF UIPSIES,
The Hindoos say, ** There are seventy-four and a
half religions in the world, and that the half belongs
to the gipsies/' The lack of religious ideas, and the
want of a peculiar system of worship among the
gipeieft, constitute remarkable features in the history
282 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
of this strange people. This will appear more so
when we consider that among all civilized nations,
down to the lowest and most degraded of human
beings, religions notions and ceremonies of some kind
or other are entertained and observed.
So far as the gipsies are concerned, whatever their
spiritual ideas may be, they have no written recog-
nized theology, no catechism, no dogmas of their own
which they are bound to accept ; nor have they ever
prescribed any particular mode of sacred service. If
they are considered to be specially depraved on
account of their neglect of the above duties, they
cannot be charged with being idolaters. We have
nowhere read or heard that gipsies have ever
been known in any country, or age, to give to
"idols made with men's hands" the worship and
honour alone due to the Supreme Being.
Some people may think the assertions just made
constitute an argument against our theory of the
Sudra extraction of gipsies, because it is said
idolatry prevails to such an extent in India that
idols are more in number than the human popula-
tion. But as we have already hinted in the second
chapter, however true this may be of most of
the castes in that country, it does not apply to
Sudras, who ignore all Brahminical authority,
and are entirely regardless of the ceremonies of
the Hindoo religion.
This being the case, it could hardly be expected
that they would trouble themselves about the posses-
sion or worship of household idols ; therefore, the fore-
fathers of the gipsies would not bring idols with them
in their flight from India. Assuming this notion to
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND D BEAMS. 283
e correct, we have one strong reason why they are
ot worshippers of idols, and why no peculiar form
f religious service has been observed and retained
y them from generation to generation, in the same
manner as many Hindostanee words in their dialect
ave been transmitted by them.
The late Rev. John West, a clergyman of the
Jhurch of England, and a most devoted friend of
bis wandering people, in his * Plea for the Education
( the Children of the Gipsies/ says, "It has been
emarked, if you ask them whence they come ? they
:now not, From whom they sprang? they know
ot; Are they Jews? they tell you they are not.
Lre they Gentiles ? no/' It may be here observed
rat although the quintessence of ignorance may be
>und among gipsies, no question offends them more
lan the last.
44 If you ask them, Whom do they worship ? they
re without God in the world. What is their religion?
ley have none,"
In the many conversations we have had, both with
ipsy men and women, on the subject of religion and
le different denominations of Christians, we have
let with some who have claimed to be members of
10 Church of England- This they do only when
;irticu!urly pressed on this point They probably
ave reasons of policy for so doing quite satisfactory
3 their own minds, and which they deem it prudent
3 withhold from other people. It is, however, very
Bmarkable that gipsies in Scotland identify them-
slves, in some cases, with the Presbyterians, and in
Vance and other continental countries with the
toman Catholics,
284 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
The Wallachians, who certainly do not entertain
a very dignified notion of the religion of this race, say
"the gipsies' church was built op bacon,
and the dogs ate it up." But taking the foregoing
statements into consideration, together with the per-
secutions the gipsies have endured, and their unceas-
ing migrations in all those countries where they
are found, we cannot wonder that they should know
so very little of their origin, and of the relation
their forefathers bore to that country in which they
lived hundreds of years ago.
For generation after generation they have grown
up without moral or mental culture ; and, as before
observed, no taste having been fostered among them
either for romantic literature or for the common
rudiments of education, and being without books and
proper teachers, they are of course in the mazes of
ignorance, and entertain the most erroneous views of
the character of the Divine Being.
When passing, some years since, through Shore-
ditch, we met an aged gipsy woman named Stanley,
with whom we held a long conversation. Expressing
a hope that, as she was advanced in years, she
attended some place of worship, and did not forget
her duty to her Maker, who we reminded her was
"just as well as merciful," the woman warmly replied
that " the good God was too great and too high to
take notice of what a poor old gipsy woman could say
or do, and she was quite sure He was too merciful to
punish her for any crime she had ever committed."
Like the North American Indians, many of the
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND DREAMS. 285
gipsies have a vague idea of the existence of a great
and good spirit who presides over the destinies of the
universe ; but without taking into consideration His
omniscience and justice, they seek to exonerate them-
selves from individual guilt by taking shelter behind
His attributes of love and mercy.
As may be supposed, the majority of the gipsy
people have very confused notions of God and of a
future state of existence.
Some of them believe that when they die they
perish altogether. One writer says that a certain
gipsy when spoken to respecting the life hereafter,
said, ** We have been wicked and miserable enough
in this life, why should we live again ?"
It is supposed by some people that gipsies,
like the Hindoos, believe in the transmigration of
souls, and that their souls, having passed through
an infinite number of bodies both of men and
l>east8, will at length attain sufficient purity to be
admitted to a state of perfect rest and quietude.
Woodcock says : " A gipsy lad was one day
beating an animal, when his father stopped him,
exclaiming, * Hurt not the animal, for within it is
the soul of your own sister."* We may here state
in reference to the belief of gipsies in the trans-
migration of souls, that we never met with one who
even gave us the slightest hint, directly or indirectly,
that such a notion is entertained by them, or by
any of their race in Ed gland, We should further
imagine that if ever any gipsies in this country
did entertain that idea, they must have been but few
in number, and that they were amongst the earliest
gipsy tribes who took up their abode amongst us,
236 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
Little attention as the majority of gipsies pay to
religious duties and obligations, there are some
of them who clearly distinguish between mere
ceremony and true religious worship. On a visit to
a gipsy encampment, pitched near Stroud, we were
informed that some of the women had been "persuaded
to attend a Roman Catholic chapel close by.
" How did you like the service ? " we enquired of
one of them.
" Not very much, sare? she said ; " there was too
much show according to my notions ; we don't like
that sort of thing in such sacred places, although
it's true we don't often visit them."
To this untutored gipsy woman the most simple
forms of worship were evidently the most acceptable.
So little, however, do the majority of gipsies know of
the true feelings and motives which should influence
those who attend religious services, that when they
are induced to go to a place of worship, they often
allow things of comparatively small importance to
occupy their minds during the time, and of which
the following story is one illustration.
GIPSIES AT A CATHEDRAL SERVICE.
A few days before the service alluded to took
place, we visited a number of gipsies who had been
located some time in a large open space of ground
within sound of the cathedral bells, which were just
then joyously chiming their invitations to public
worship. Their sound was suggestive, and induced
us to enquire if any of the members of these
nomadic families had, during their sojourn there,
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND DREAMS. 287
ever visited the cathedral ; not one of them had done
so ; we then expressed a hope that they would go
on the following Sabbath. Several promised they
^vould if the weather happened to he favourable.
Speaking particularly to an aged gipsy man on
this subject, and saying it was his duty to attend
some place of worship as an example to the younger
ones, he tried to excuse himself by saying his
clothes were bo shabby, and because our folks who
-went to such places were all so grand and gaily
dressed, and wouldn't rare to mix with gipsies,
44 But" we asked, "if you can obtain a better coat
and hat than those you now wear, will you attend
the service with the other gipsies ? *
"I will/' he said; 14 but where am I to get a
better hat and coat ? I'm poor and can't afford to
buy them."
u Call to-morrow at our house," we said, f 1 and we
will see what can be done/'
The old man called forthwith ; we had already
looked out a coat, pair of trousers, and a hat, though
somewhat worn, yet fifty per cent better than his
own. Although they were too large for him, as he
was a small man for a gipsy, he said he could wear
them, and, apparently well pleased, trudged off with
them to his tent.
Sunday came ; the sun shone out brightly, and
his rays, which fell on the waters of the Severn,
made them gleam like molten silver. It was about
2 p.m. when we went to see if the gipsies intended
to visit the cathedral for the three o'clock service ;
they were astir and preparing to do so. The
females were dressed in red cloaks and wore ribbons
288 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAX.
of the most glaring colours, especially some of the
younger ones, and the men were clad in their best
clothes, made up in most cases of velveteen, corduroy,
coloured neckerchiefs, and the characteristic broad
brimmed, dome crowned hat. The men and women
all appeared in good humour, and the children were
hilarious with the prospect of the novel treat before
them.
Among them was the old gipsy man, who was
already dressed in the hat, coat, and trousers we had
given him ; but some of the gipsies were laughing at
the somewhat ludicrous appearance he presented in
what they pleased to call his " new togs," which we
certainly must say displayed no proofs of scientific
measurement of the gipsy's body. The hat fell
nearly on his eyebrows, and dropped too low behind ;
his coat was too long in the sleeves, as well as in
the skirt, and far too capacious to be called even a
tolerably good fit; there was ample room in the
trousers, which could boast of a very loose and easy
suspension, as well as of superfluous length in both
legs of them, and which he had turned up three or
four inches at the bottom, just displaying above the
uppers of his hob-nailed boots his blue worsted stock-
ings. The old man, however, took their remarks
in good humour, and simply said, u Why, if they
don't fit first-rate, they are good in quality, and
that's something in their favour at any rate." The
gipsies then started and reached the cathedral some
few minutes before the service began. We hardly
need say that, dressed as we have described them, they
presented a very picturesque appearance in the vast
congregation whose curiosity and interest the gipsies
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND DREAMS. 280
had considerably excited. Whatever the ideas of the
latter might have been, or however fugitive their
thoughts were as they sat in that sacred temple, they
behaved with great decorum, were very quiet, and
some of them seemed to be, shall we say, even
reverential
On the following day we again visited the same
gipsies, in order to ascertain how the service had
impressed them. To our enquiries we received
some singular remarks, most of which showed that,
many of the gipsies had not properly realized the
object of the service they attended on the previous
day.
*0! what a fine building, and what grand
windows they teas'' said one of the women.
** And wasn*t the big organ beautiful ? " said
another.
**And so was the high pillars that reached from
the floor to the roof to hold it up I suppose, 1 * said
one of the boys.
44 Yes," said a child not more than seven or eight
years old, ** and so was all them lady's and gen'le-
inan's faces as tvds stuck on the walls all round."
" But the young ladies was the prettiest sight to
my liking/' said one of the young gipsy men.
u And to mine too/' chimed in his brother Horace.
" Ah! but I liked the singing by the little girls
the best ; it was so sweet it was/' said a vivacious
girl about eighteen years old.
"What girls do you mean?" we enquired, sus-
pecting she was mistaken in the sex of the singers*
"0!" she replied, "the girls at the far end, you
know ; there iras lots of em, and they wore long
290 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
white bedgowns, and they all looked very clean and
nice they did."
Of course this simple girl was referring to the
chorister boys, who wore their white surplices. We
have pleasure in stating that the old gipsy man
in his comprehension of the importance of the
service, and his appreciation of religious worship,
was an exception to the other gipsies, whose atten-
tion had been principally devoted to more trivial
matters, and to those external objects to which we
have adverted.
A GIPSY LECTURES THE AUTHOR.
If gipsies have vague ideas of the virtues and
practices which constitute the Christian character,
they are nevertheless observant, and frequently justify
their own neglect of our religion by what they con-
sider to be the inconsistent deportment of some of its
professors. Their notions on the conduct referred to,
and which are embodied in what is to follow, have
been gathered by us in conversations we have held
with some of the most intelligent 1 members of the
gipsy race.
On one occasion, when speaking to a gipsy on
the excellence of the Christian religion, and of the
necessity of possessing it in order to be thoroughly
honest, happy, virtuous, and good in this life, and to
secure a happy hereafter existence, another member
of the iribe who had heard our remarks stepped
forward and said :
" Honest, did you say, sir ? Honest, indeed," he
continued ; " look at the deception some of your people
ItJSLJGIONi SUPERSTITIONS, AND DREAMS. 291
practice in trade, And then you talk about virtue
and happiness and such like things 5 yet while I may
admit they may be found, I would ask you to look
at the drunkenness of thousands of your men and
women, to listen to the bad language some of them
utter in your streets, and to observe that many of
them spend the Sabbath, as you know, in pleasure
they seek by boat, by road, or rail, while in some
cases they work out the hearts of their animals and
fellow-men when they should be at rest. I don't
mean to say that all your people are guilty of these
things; there are those, I know, that are not; but,
as I before said, multitudes are guilty of them, and
so depraved that they disgrace your civilization,
education, and religious services of which you so
vainly boast."
It was in vain to try to convince him that his
reasoning was false, and his deductions wrong ;
and that he should distinguish between the mere
nominal profession of Christianity and the possession
of its ennobling influences. The gipsy seemed to have
an idea that the deception and immorality of which
he complained arose entirely from a lack of power
in Christianity and its forms of worship, and that
we invest them with importance they do not
deserve*
Need we wonder then that gipsies, having such
notions as these, and knowing, as they do, that they
are an outlawed race, should turn away from our
busy and fashionable towns, have little or no faith
in our religious professions^ disbelieve our honesty,
object to our principles, and despise our public
services, or at least neglect them ; and that turn-
2
292 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
ing to their own wild freedom and more unsophisti-
cated way of life, should boastingly say, as one of the
Lees did to us, "We fall back upon Nature, and
through her worship the Maker. We are contented
with the light of the sun, the moon and the stars ;
we love the woods, the trees, the fields, and flowers,
and to listen to Nature's own music in the songs of
birds, in the murmuring stream, and in the breeze
which softly sighs through the hedgerows and groves.
These are the things we admire, and for which we
are thankful. Nature is our altar, and even in the
green lanes, on the mountain side, in the forest recess,
or anywhere else, we can raise our shrines of devo-
tion, at which we can breathe our heartfelt gratitude
to the Great Spirit for the favours He gives us."
The views which many of the most intelligent
gipsies take of the practices of multitudes of our own
people, and the notions they entertain that our forms
and ceremonies of worship are needless, and that the
love and admiration of Nature are all that are neces-
sary to honour the Creator, no doubt constitute very
great difficulties in the religious reformation of the
gipsy race.
As a relief to the picture we have just drawn, it is
gratifying to state that some of the members of these
nomadic tribes teach their children the Lord's Prayer,
and to treat those who have acted as sponsors at
their baptisms with great and superstitious respect.
THE GIPSY CHIEF AND HIS CHILD.
It was on a calm fine evening in the decline of
summer, just as the sun was disappearing below the
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AND DREAMS. 293
horizon, and all around seemed hushed into silence,
save that now and then it was broken by the music
of song-birds, that we were in conversation with a
Btalwart gipsy man, whose tent was close by, and
within which were his wife and six children, whose
hair and eyes were as glossy, bright and beautiful
as ever characterized the purest offspring of the
gipsy race, as the father claimed a direct descent
from one of the first families that came into England,
and the mother as belonging to the Lees and the
Chilcotts, Nimble as a fawn, and light as a feather,
one of the girls, not more than four years old,
bounded across the green sward towards the chief
" Good-night, dadi; I'm going to bed," said the
little one. The father held her up, and imprinting
a kiss on her sunburnt cheek, said, " Good-night, my
ehiwt % God bless you; mind and say your prayers
before you go to bed." The child was soon within
the opening of the tent, where the gipsy mother was
preparing the other children for their night's rest
and sleep. The child before mentioned knelt by the
side of her mother, and, with her little hands clasped,
said her prayers distinctly and reverently,
As we looked at the child thus engaged, wo could
not help saying that, in the midst of all the darkness
and ignorance of these wandering tribes, here was
at least one encouraging ray of hope and of light
Who will dare to say, that the simple, humble
prayer offered by that gipsy child under a fragile
tent pitched in a solitary spot, was not heard by
God and registered in heaven ?
294 OUR OIPSIES IN CITY TENT, AND VAN.
SUPERSTITIONS, DREAMS, ETC., OF THE GIPSIES.
Gipsy people allow superstition to have great
power over their minds and movements. If, on
leaving a camping spot early in the morning for
some other locality, the gipsies should first meet
a donkey, it would be regarded by them as an
omen of ill-luck ; but if they should first meet a
woman who squinted, they would be almost scared
out of their wits, would in all probability return to
the same camping-place, unpack their carts and
donkeys, and there remain some time before resum-
ing their journey.
Meeting a funeral is considered by them to be an
indication of misfortune. The howling of dogs, the
flying of certain birds across their path, they believe
to be precursors of evil.
They attach great significance to dreams of every
kind, which they believe portend good or evil, ac-
cording to their nature. Dreams of blood, snakes,
thunder and lightning, generally produce great fear
among the gipsies, because their old women usually
interpret them as indicating the apprehension, im-
prisonment, and even the death of one or more of
their members. They believe also in the "Evil
Eye," in the knowledge and powers of witches and
wizards, in incantations, and in the long list of
foolish superstitions believed in by multitudes of
other people besides themselves.
So great is the want of education and true reli-
" gion among this people, such are the distorted views
they have of their Maker and of the future, and
RELIGION, SUPERSTITIONS, AXI> I) HE A Ms. 2Uo
so numerous are their prejudices, and incoherent
notions of many things, that their condition is, in
some respects, a truly deplorable one.
A story is told of Charley Graham, a noted gipsy,
who was sentenced to be hanged in Perth for horse-
stealing, sending, on the morning of his execution,
a message to one of the magistrates of that town,
to the effect that he wanted a razor to take off his
beard, desiring the person to tell him that unless his
beard was shaven he could not appear before either
God or man.
Although some gipsies on the approach of death
show great fear and distress of mind, others among
them have been callous and unconcerned. Some
years since old gipsy Buckland, who was so desperate
a character that even his own people were compelled
to discard him, was sentenced to be hanged for
murdering a cottage woman living near Sutton
Benger, in Wiltshire. Just before his execution,
having asked to have his shoe strings untied, he
threw his shoes into the crowd, and called out in a
bold, defiant manner, " / beant afeard" In a few
moments he ceased to exist.
ONE OP THK STANLEYS— FORT C.N E-TELLKR.
CHAPTER XVL
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES OP THE GIPSIES.
Chiromancy — Astrology — -Disappointed lovers — Plans adopted
by gipsies iu fortune-telling — The two female servants and
the frying-pan — Gipsy succor in fortune-telling — The
original Peggy — A eruditions baker — Bori Hokani, or the
14 great trick — An old bachelor and gipsy girl — A deep
laid scheme — The Quaker and the gipsy — The Lissou Grove
fortune-teller — Telling the fortune of a fortune-teller — A
fortune told in Greenwich Park to a very gullible young
man — The secret of gipsy Rucceflsin forlune-telling — Gipsies
good readers of human character — Rivals in fortune- telling—
The surgeon's: widow — M Zenrtovesta M — The old woman who
lived in the mews — Copy of a remarkable handbill about
casting nativities, Ac,
" Lo! by the wayside 'neath umbrageous shadows
Of lofty elms, which dim the flaming sun,
The gipsy mother, gazing o'er the meadows,
Through which so many silver streamlets run,
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES OF GIPSIES. 297
Sits tm a verdant bank, whilo round her flowing
Are wild flowers, bright as her bright face, and glowing.
And aft the village maidens smiling pass,
With an arch whisper, and a side- long look,
She promises from destiny's dark glass
To read their fates when in some quiet nook ;
But to evoke the spirit bland and calm,
Silver must cross the wily gipsy's palm."
"To peer into the future, and to ascertain the result
of events not yet accomplished , is one of those
pursuits which offer peculiar attractions to the
credulous and curious. The curious lend believing
ears to the idle stories of the wizard and the spirit-
monger, and sacrifice reason on the altar of credulity.
In all ages men have been found cunning enough to
deceive their fellows by imaginary glimpses of the
unseen world, by charms and amulets, and ghost-
raisings, and exorcisms, and auguries of good and
evil fortune.
" Superstition possesses a potent influence on the
human mind Whether it be the charms and
spells of ancient times, the auguries of happiness or
misery, is it not of the same character ? — an appeal
to superstition, an ignoring of the reasoning faculties.
Fortune-telling, ghost-raising and auguries, are but
relics of old heathenism, that might naturally enough
have been expected to affect the human intellect
when the world was young, and society plunged in
barbarism, but which is grossly inconsistent and
out of place in the broad light of the nineteenth
century/*
298 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
FORTUNE TELLING BY CHIROMANCY
and astrology, as well as by cards, is a practice
which has long prevailed among the gipsies of this
and other countries, and one which is likely to be
the last they will abandon, owing to its being to
them a very fruitful source of gain. The almost
universal adoption of the practice by gipsy women
arises not only from the reason just assigned, but
from their knowledge of the anxiety with reference
to future events, which pervades almost every mind.
Clinging with almost inflexible tenacity to the
hope of brighter days, the poor sometimes seek
relief from the distress of existing circumstances by
the verbal assurance of some sybil, whose prognosti-
cations are believed to be the offspring of super-
natural agency, and in which they expect to find
a pleasing confirmation of their most anxious
wishes.
On the other hand, the possession of wealth,
engendering selfishness and a perpetual craving for
the accumulation of still greater riches and worldly
influence, often prompts persons in the higher
circles of life to hold secret interviews with gipsy
fortune-tellers, to lavish gifts upon them, and to
have recourse to base and shameful intriguing,
simply to buy a guarantee that coming years hold
for them a store of unbounded and inexhaustible
prosperity.
Sighing and disappointed lovers, who meet with
no favourable answer to their hopes, and who fancy
they are doomed to banishment from the object
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES OF GIPSIES. 299
of their affections, imagine that, in the revelation
of what awaits them, either a last fatal blow may
be given to a lingering hope, or that they will find
a panacea for the anguish which destroys their
happiness or mars their peace of mind.
There may be various operating causes which
influence many people to seek satisfaction in the
practice of fortune-telling ; still the conduct of such
persons implies want of confidence in Gk>d*s wisdom
and over-ruling power, and betrays a needless and
impatient curiosity respecting their future destinies,
Gipsies are keen discriminators of human character,
and possess a clearness of perception of which few
people can boast Some of their women seem
intuitively to understand the person with whom they
have to deal, and are always crafty enough to
adapt their speeches to the circumstances, anticipa-
tions, character and dispositions of their employers.
Young people have often paid dearly for their
belief in this pretended power of the gipsies — to
foretell future events, subsequently discovering that
they have been cleverly deceived, altogether out-
witted, and fleeced of their money,
The following is a plan often adopted by gipsy
fortune-tellers to delude the young. In small towns
and villages more especially, gipsy women introduce
themselves to both rich and poor by offering wares
for sale. They make a practice of enquiring if
any event of importance has occurred, or is about
to take place. Probably a marriage ceremony is
(shortly to be performed between Miss A, and young
Mr. B. If so, the gipsy's first thought is to gain all
the information she can relating to the young couple,
300 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and then to gain an interview with either of them.
When this is obtained, a full description of the personal
appearance of the bridegroom or the bride is given.
Every word uttered by the gipsy, being mainly
truthful, the idea that she speaks with authority
and prophetic wisdom becomes impressed upon the
mind of her hearer. It may be the gipsy has given
promises of bright and happy seasons to the young
couple, and intimated that their life will be, to use
a figure of speech, strewn with beautiful and fragrant
flowers, and that no intruding gloom will darken
their future prospects. Working in this way on the
emotions and imaginations of such inexperienced
people, fortune-tellers have often succeeded in obtain-
ing considerable sums of money from them. Need
we wonder that a susceptible coy young maiden, or
a modest but ambitious young man, should be carried
away with such enunciations as those uttered by the
gipsy, or that they should so readily believe her.
Little do such credulous people suppose that what a
gipsy may have told them was not through her own
* supernatural gift, but had been received by her from
some gossiping neighbour probably not more than
a hundred yards off".
Mr. Crabb, author of the ' Gipsies' Advocate,' in
referring to the practice of fortune-telling by the
gipsies, says: " B They generally prophecy good.
Knowing the readiest way to deceive, to a young
lady they describe a handsome gentleman, as one she
may be assured will be her husband. To a youth
they promise a pretty lady with a large fortune.
These artful pretenders to a knowledge of future
events generally discover who are in possession of
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES OF GIPSIES. 301
property ; and if they be superstitious and covetous
they contrive to persuade them there is a lucky stone
in their house, and that, if they will entrust to them
all or &2>art of their money, they will double and treble
it Trades pen have been known to sell their goods
at a considerable loss, hoping- to have the money
increased to them h% the supposed power of these
wicked females.
11 If the fortune-teller cannot succeed in obtaining
a large sum at first from such credulous dupes, she
commences with a small one ; and then pretending
it to be too insignificant for the planets to work upon,
she soon gets it doubled; and when she has succeeded
in getting all she can, she decamps with her booty ?
baring her mortified victims to the just punishment
of disappointment and shame, who are afraid of making
their losses known lest they should be exposed to the
ridicule they deserve,"
The same author informs us that on one occasion
"two female servants went into the camp of some
gipsies near Southampton to have their fortunes
told by one, a great professor of the art. On observ-
ing them to appear like persons in service, she said to
a companion, '/ shall not get my hooks or cards for them,
tltey are but servants / And calling for a frying-pan ,
she ordered them to fill it with water, and hold their
faces over it. This being done, she proceeded to
flatter and to promise them great things, for which
she was paid one shilling and sixpence each. This
is called the frying-pan fortune*"
The means and materials used by gipsies in fortune-
telling consist of reading the lines on the palm of the
hand, the use of a pack of cards, a crystal bull,
302 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
sometimes a bundle of sticks or twigs, and a book of
incantations and receipts..
In the practice of fortune-telling by the above
means gipsy girls are instructed by those old women
of their tribes who are considered to be the most
clever in the art. The curved line running from
between the thumb and fore-finger down to the
wrist, another line running obliquely through the
middle of the palm, and another at nearly right
angles from the base of the little finger, are considered
by the gipsies to be the line of life, of health, and of
fortune ; if each line is deep and well defined, it is
an indication of good ; but if not so, and especially
if there are many small lines crossing the middle
one, then it is regarded as a token of ill-health,
short life, and of adversity,
GIPSY SUCCESS IN FORTUNE-TELLING.
The money made by gipsies in fortune-telling is,
as a rule, nearly all profit. Although the practice
has sometimes brought them into great trouble and
expense, yet in the majority of cases they have
escaped detection by the law, and have pursued their
calling without molestation.
Some years since several notorious fortune-tellers
carried on a successful trade in the Rosherville and
Springhead Gardens, near Gravesend in Kent. In
the former place Avis Lee had practised her art
more than a quarter of a century. In the latter
were to be seen two sylvan tents, on one of which
were the words, " Here is the old original Peggy ;
no connexion with the other ;" whilst the other held
FORTUNE-TELLING PXACTICES OF GIPSIES, 303
out to tbe credulous this bait, "The Norwood
Gipsy."
On one occasion a iady named Brabazon visited
old Peggy with the laudable intention of showing
the gipsy that her mode of obtaining a living was
neither honest nor lawful, and of trying to prevail
upon her to abandon such a wicked course of life*
In conversation with Peggy, Miss Brabazon ascer-
tained that when the gipsy first went to Rosherville
she used to tell fortunes at two pence a head, and
that she took five or six shillings a day. In a little
time she began to make a good sum by telling
fortunes, but it appears was never so successful as
another gipsy with whom she had stopped a long
time, and who had made seven pounds a week.
Nevertheless j Peggy admitted that she made four
pounds a week, paid two shillings and sixpence a
day for her standing there, and three shillings for a
cab morning and evening to take her backwards
and forwards, in consequence of having hurt her foot.
A CREOULOUS BAKER.
Some time ago a young tradesman, living in a
small town in Gloucestershire, had accumulated the
sum of eighteen pounds by his business as a baker,
and was foolish enough to make the fact known to
other people. The report reached the ears of two
gipsy women who were in the neighbourhood at
the time ; so they at once called at bis shop, and
worked upon his credulity by promising to double bis
money for him if he would allow them to have it
three or four days.
304 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
They induced him to give it up, on the under-
standing that he was to meet them at a certain time
in an appointed place, for the two-fold purpose of
receiving the promised sum and to reward them for
an act of such proffered generosity. The hour of
meeting arrived, and the young man went to the
try sting spot, but the women were not there, neither
did they come, although he waited a long time in
full expectation of their arrival. They were of
coarse many miles distant at the time, and their
silly victim was left to reflect upon the loss he had
sustained through his own stupidity, and the
women's ingenuity in so cleverly deceiving him.
He was so humiliated by the result of .his credulity
that he left the town, and we were told by a
neighbour that he died soon after. •
"bom hokani," or great trick.
Many persons have been induced to place money
in the hands of gipsy fortune-tellers, who have
pretended that by being allowed to tie it up in a
piece of paper, to repeat certain words over it, and
then put it in the Bible, to be hidden in some secret
place for a certain number of days, they would be
able by their art in conjuration to double the sum, or,
using their own words, " to produce two canaries
(sovereigns) for one." This scheme embodies what
is denominated by the gipsies the "Bori Hokani,"
or " Great Trick," a definition of which is given by
a London detective police officer, as follows :
" This is the way they works it. They'll get hold of
some old farmer's wife, sir, in an out-of-the-way place,
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES OF GIPSIES. 305
Lhey knows there's money kept in the house,
for there's many of them farmers as wouldn't trust
the Bank of England with a sovereign ; and when
the husband's out of the way they sticks into the
poor ignorant woman as how they can make money
breed money, all along of a charm they've got. So
they indooces the ignorant woman to let 'em put up
her husband's sovereigns for her, which they does
safe enough in a parcel, and gives it her, and makes
her lock it up in a drawer, or chest, or such like, and
Bays some gibberish, and acts some games over it,
and tells her that in such and such a time if she
opens the parcel she'll find two sovereigns for one.
*' But don't you see, sir, they had another parcel
with em, made up just like the one they've packed
the sovereigns in (and that's why they always puts it
up themselves) filled with lead dumps^ or such like,
and by a fakement, I beg your pardon, sir, a slight*
of-hand like, you know, they change the packet of
sovereigns for the packet of lead fardens, in giving
on em to put into the box, and they walks their
chalks with the tin ; and when the old lady opens
her box and unfastens the parcel to look for her
young canaries, you know, sir, she finds the blessed
dumps, and precious aggravated she is, in course
and her husband too, for he is safe to find it out,
and that's the 4 Bori Hokani/ sir."
AN OLD BACHELOR AND GIPSY GIRL.
The following account is another illustration of
the credulity and foolishness of people allowing
themselves to be duped out of their money by a plan
306 OCR GIPSIES £S CITY, TSNT 9 AND VAN.
so manifestly absurd, and even contrary to th»
smallest amount of perception and common sense.
Not long since an avaricious old bachelor, residing, fsig
in Lancashire, deposited £150 in the Preston Banteff jok
and wishing to increase the sum, and to add to hw m~M\\\
domestic comforts, he had for some time beer^^^^ei
looking out for a wife with a good fortune, to enabMT<=Jble
him to realize his two-fold desire. A gipsy gir i^irj
having heard of his wishes, at once found him OQcmj^
and thus accosted him :
" May I tell you your fortune, sir ? "
44 No/' said the bachelor, "I dont believe " in
it."
" Ah ! " said the subtle gipsy, " you are unmarrier=3d,
are you not ? "
"Yes," said he; "lam"
"I know," continued the girl, "a lady worr^th
money, land, and oxen, and she would be proud to
become your wife."
"Indeed," he asked in interest, "who is she? fcr^ell
me."
"I cannot tell you now, you must wait awhil^^»
replied the gipsy.
" But why wait ? " said the man ; " what do y^~~~ ou
want ? what can I do ? "
To excite his curiosity still more, the girl paused, 88
if invoking the aid of some unseen agency, and th— ^ n
said, " You must meet me here to-morrow (nami^^£
the hour), and bring with ydu ninety sovereign m
wrapped in a piece of brown paper, which I mu^'
see before I can make any revelation, or give y^ u
the lady's name." The two then parted.
On the following morning the man obtained fro/n
FO R TUNE- TELL INQ PRACTICES OF GIPSIES. 307
tie bank the money required, and then at the time
specified took it to the appointed place.
The gipsy was there, and proceeded to tell her
well-fabricated story to this aspirant for matrimonial
honours, at the same time eyeing very intently the
parcel of sovereigns made up as she had directed,
and which he held in his hand.
This interview terminated with an assignation for
the two following days, which was kept, the man
bringing the parcel as before.
On the last day, the wily gipsy said she "must
Jeel the money* or the charm would not be effectual"
The bachelor gave her the parcel, being assured by
the girl that she would return it to him immediately.
She then described in glowing terms the domestic
bliss in store for him, and spoke so highly of the
personal attractions and moral excellencies of the
lady whom she had pretended was anxious to become
his spouse, and so lauded her fine cattle, well
cultivated land, and large fortune, that he became
quite intoxicated with delight, and nearly lost all
control over his organs of vision.
As the gipsy proceeded with her flattering
prophecies of future good luck, his eyes involuntarily
wandered far over the landscape, as if at once to
realize the benefits in store for him.
During the few moments the man's attention was
thus abstracted, the gipsy very adroitly transferred
the parcel of gold to her own pocket, and then,
touching the dupe on the arm, handed to him
another parcel similar in appearance, saying, M To-
morrow you must meet me here and reward me for
my trouble. I shall then give you the lady s name
x 2
308 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and her place of residence, so that nothing nee*
hinder you from marrying her, and having what Z
have promised ; hut on no account must you ope:
the parcel I have just returned to you unti
the expiration of three days, otherwise the char]
will be entirely broken."
"Of course Til meet you," said the silly fellow
"with the greatest pleasure, and I'll not open th
parcel neither"
On the following day he went to the spot
arranged, but there was no gipsy ; and several tim^s*
did he repeat his visit, but to no purpose. A
length, concluding that some unavoidable circun
stance had transpired to prevent the gipsy froc*^
keeping her appointment^ he resolved to return hir-^3* 8
money to the bank. To the bank accordingly YtzM^
went, but when the clerk opened the parcel, tfctf-^ 16
would-be depositor was horror-stricken at beholdin*^*^
ninety round pieces of lead, instead of ninety sovereigns^** 1 ®
The gipsy was by this time far away, and h^*^ 1
victim so intensely mortified by his own folly, ths^*=*a*
he was ashamed to expose himself to public ridicu7-^-^
by taking steps for the prosecution of the girl wbz^fo
had so cleverly duped him.
The reader will no doubt understand that tfc=?£
gipsy's reason for requiring so long an interv*^
between the first and last interview with the victizo
was that she might have sufficient time to make up
the counterfeit parcel, so as not to run any risk of
failure in the deception she wished to practice.
Wee were once informed by a gipsy woman that an
aunt of hers, belonging, we believe, to the Stanley
family was one of the most successful fortune-tellers
FORTUNE-TELLING PRACTICES OF GIPSIES.
THE QUAKER AND THE GIPSY,
connected with their tribes. She has been known to
return to her tent at nightfall with Beveral pounds
obtained during the day by fortune-telling; if she
lined less than two pounds she was always a little
lissatisfied with her non-success, but if she returned
home with only several shillings or one sovereign
this gipsy was generally out of temper during the
evening, and would grumble very severely at the
fates for the ill-luck she had met with.
The following anecdote, given to us by a London
minister, will show the folly of encouraging the
practice of fortune-telling, A member of the society
of Friends, living in Suffolk, left home one morning,
but soon unexpectedly returned. To his surprise a
young gipsy girl was in the kitchen with his two
servants, both of whom she was amusing by fortune-
telling. The gipsy apologized.
*' Oh," said the gentleman, " art thou able to tell
what is in the future ? M
u O, yes," was the giiTs brief but timid reply.
" Then when thou hast done with my servants, 1 ' said
the master, "come into my sitting-room, I want to
speak to thee/ 1
Probably thinking that he also wished to have his
fortune told, and that his purse was w r orth more than
those of the girls, the gipsy obeyed, went to his room,
and took a seat.
Repeating his question as to her prophetic abilities,
the gentleman reached his hand to a horsewhip, and
hen,standing over the girl in a menacing attitude, said
1
310 OUR 0IP8IE8 IN CITY, TENT, Aim VAN.
in a stern voice, " Now I know thou art an impoetc^^ 3
for hadst thou known anything of the future, thc^-^
wouldst have known that when I told thee to conf*
up into my sitting-room it was my intention to hoiiK-m
whip thee. Begone, or I'll give thee in charge *
the police," and he flourished the whip over thM3
affrighted girl, who was glad to decamp with s^m/j
haste, without having fathomed the depth or test^^k/
the value of the worthy man's purse.
THE LISSON GROVE FORTUNE-TELLER.
On one occasion we were directed to a house in
Lisson Grove, in which a notorious gipsy had carried
on the practice of fortune-telling for many years.
Knocking at her door, which was locked, a voice from
within enquired, a Who's there ? " "A friend," we
said. She then unlocked the door, and allowed us to
enter her room, which was clean and neat, and formed
at once a living and sleeping place, and a sanctum
for prophetic utterances. A crystal ball was sus-
pended from the ceiling, a pack of cards, was lying
in a corner, and there were other appliances of her
art. We found this gipsy to be both intelligent and
of pleasing manner. Although we urged her to
give up her wicked and dishonest practice of fortune-
telling, we had little hope she would do so, as we
learned she was reaping a rich harvest by it from
persons belonging to nearly all classes of society.
We have already remarked that gipsies have a
confident manner in expressing themselves, even to
those who are far above them in rank. From a re-
view of the 6 Word Book of the Romany' we learn
F0BTUNE-TELL1NG PRACTICES OF GIFfifES. 311
that George IY., when Regent, had his fortune told
by the gipsy Britannia on Newmarket Heath, who
gave the bewitching caumli u foive guineas and
a kiss," so that even royalty does not deter a gipsy
from pursuing her calling when there is the least
probability of making profit thereby.
TELLING THE FORTUNE OF A FORTUNE-TELLER,
Although the woman referred to in the following
story was not a gipsy in the sense in which the word
is generally understood the circumstances connected
with her examination will show the absurdity of
placing any confidence in the assumed prophetic
power of such wicked pretenders. It is stated that
44 At the Bradford West Riding Court, before Joshua
Pollard, Esq., an elderly woman named Dixon was
lately charged with having followed the vocation of
fortune-telling.
** Ann Stansfield, a young girl, said she had con-
sulted her twice, and given her sixpence the first time
and five shillings the second. The prisoner shuffled
the cards mysteriously, made her put her hand on a
crystal ball larger than an egg, and the prisoner put
her own hand uppermost, repeated some gibberish,
and then made a low bow or curtsey, and the work
was finished.
11 The cards, the crystal ball, a small bundle of
sticks used as charms, and a book filled with incanta-
tions and receipts of a rather singular description
were produced.
1 Can you tell your own fortune ? * enquired Mr.
\)llard.
312 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
" The woman said she could not.
" 4 Very well then, he continued, i I will tell it for
you, and commit you for three months to the house
of correction at Wakefield.* There is no doubt the
old woman considered that was fortune-telling a
great deal too practical to be at all pleasant."
A FORTUNE TOLD IN GREENWICH PARK.
On one occasion when about to enter a public room
in London to give a lecture on gipsies, we were ac-
costed by a respectably attired man, who in general
terms referred to gipsy life, but particularly to what
he considered to be the supernatural power gipsy
women have in revealing future events.
" They are a marvellous people," said he, " and a* e
no doubt endowed, really and truly, with the gi^
of prophecy, which enables them to tell what is t/>
be the future lot of those who consult them,
course," he continued, " you believe so too, sir, ^
should imagine."
" Oh, yes," we replied ; " they can tell fortunes, i^ 10
doubt, but only in the same way that you, myself, ^ T
anybody else might do by using the same means th ^
gipsies use. Other people who are observant, ar^ 1 ^
have had experience of life and of human naturT --6 *
may, as well as gipsy fortune-tellers, hit upon ma^^y
things that may really come to pass in the future lrr^ e
of others."
44 Sir," said the man, half offended, "I'm aste^ D "
ished to hear you make such assertions, by whL <k
you not only libel the gipsies, but assume to yomJir-
self a power and gift that do not belong to you. J
FORTUNE- TELLING PRACTICES OF GIPSIES. 313
low that gipsies can reveal the future, for I had my
rtune told once by one of their girls in Greenwich
I Park more than twenty years ago/'
"That is a long time since," we said. "If you
have not forgotten what the gipsy told you, I should
like to hear it. It may be that your story will induce
me to alter my opinion about the fortune-telling gifts
of this people. I wish to accord, even to gipsies,
that which they have a right to claim,"
44 Well, sir," began the man, "then I'll tell you
that twenty years since I was single, but one day
I happened to see a young woman whose appearance
and manner made such an impression on my heart
— in fact it was a case of love at first sight — that
I resolved to make further acquaintance with her,
to let her know my state of feeling, and to ask
her to become my wife. Just about that time I was
one day in Greenwich Park, when a gipsy woman
wanted to tell me my fortune, I consented for her
to do so, and gave her a piece of silver, which, you
know, they always expect before they begin,"
" Oh, yes," we said ; u that is, I believe, their
custom. They know and often say, * A chirriclo adri
hU vast is worth duj adri the bar* (that is, 4 a bird in
the hand is worth two in the bush) 1 ; and they like
to be sure of the money in all their business trans-
actions, especially in the practice of fortune-telling.
But tell me what the gipsy said to you/'
*' She said," continued the man, * I should get
married to a young woman who was good looking,
and very fond of me, and who would make me an
eel lent wife. But this was to me the most remark-
le and strange of all, that the description she gave
314 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN
of the hair, eyes, nose, mouth, and complexion of my
future wife answered to that of the young woman I
had seen, and of whom I spoke just now."
44 And did you marry the person the gipsy described
to you ?" we enquired.
" I am happy to say I did," he answered ; 44 and so
you see, sir, the gipsy was right to begin with."
44 But what more did she tell you ? " we asked.
44 A dozen things besides," he replied ; 44 she told
me I should prosper in business, and become a man
of some importance, for instance, a town council
man ; and that my children should marry well ; but
that I should also have a good deal of trouble."
44 You married, it appears," we remarked ; 44 have
you any children, and have they, or are they likely
to marry well ? " we asked.
44 Well now," said the man hesitatingly, 44 on that
one point the gipsy, I must admit, was not quite clear.
We never had but one child, and that died in its
infancy ; and I regret to say I lost my wife about six
years since. But as to my rising in the world, I think
I am in a fair way for that. I have been messenger
of the parish vestry during the last twelve years, and
I can assure you I've seen in my time as many ups
and downs as anybody my own age ; so that you
see these gipsies must know more of the future than
other folks do, or how could that girl have pictured
my future life so truly ? "
44 1 fail to see that such is the case," we said ; 44 and
that your argument in favour of gipsy fortune-
telling is a very weak one. You married, you say ;
so do nearly all young men. You have had trouble ;
who, I would ask, is without it ? I am astonished
FOB TUNE- TEL LINO PRACTICES OF GIPSIES. 315
at your credulity; because of the dozen different
things the gipsy girl told you not more than two
of them have come to pass ; in fact, it would have
been a marvellous thing if they had not done bo, for
they are the very commonest of life's occurrences,
Without exonerating the gipsy from guilt in ob-
taining your money under, I may say, false pre-
tences, she certainly reaped the greatest benefit
from the interview. Gipsies laugh at people who so
easily part with their money to pay for a practice
founded on fraud and falsehood/*
Here the conversation ended, We delivered our
lecture, to which the man spoken of listened with
much attention j particularly to our animadversions
on gipsy prognostications. It is evident, however,
that the credulity of this man was a disgrace to
advancing civilization, and that to suppose even
gipsies can reveal the secrets of the hidden, dark,
unknown, is not only wicked, but foolish to the
highest degree,
THE SECRET OF GIPSY SUCCESS IN FORTUNE-TELLING,
The minds of many persons are mystified by the fact
that in fortune-telling the gipsies often tell the truth
in a way which, to them, is altogether unaccount-
able, and therefore conclude that this people must
possess the gift or power of drawing aside the veil
from the face of futurity. Those favourable to this
belief will often ask, " If gipsy women do not possess
the gift of prophecy, how is it that their prognostica-
tions so often come to pass?" The answer is T that
although in some respects the history and ex-
316 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
periences of a number of individuals are dissimilar,
yet in others there is a striking incidental re-
semblance. Some men rise in worldly position,
and reach the highest point of prosperity; while
others have to grapple with numerous difficulties
and merciless poverty. Many persons realize their
most sanguine expectations ; others are crushed with
overwhelming disappointments.
How few there are who end their lives amidst
the scenes of the cheery days of youth? How
many, as age creeps on, are torn by the ever up-
heaving circumstances of human life from early as-
sociations ? Perchance they cross the seas, and end
their days in some distant clime. Who has not
passed the ordeal of affliction and sorrow in a more
or less intense degree ? Are not these and similar
things the lot of the human family ?
It is to these circumstances the gipsy's prog-
nostications so frequently have reference, which
will, in a great measure, account for the fortui-
tous success of these crafty deluders. Gipsies
will sometimes tell young women that their future
husbands have black hair, bluish eyes, dark com-
plexions, and are altogether very handsome men.
Are there not many men who possess these charac-
teristics? And does not nearly every girl think
that he whom she loves is the best and handsomest
man in the world ? Such, indeed, is generally the
case. It is strange, however, that persons with ap-
parently well-cultivated minds should in this matter
be so readily and easily imposed upon.
We emphatically state that the gipsies have never
told the truth respecting the events of any person's
FORTUNE- TELLING PRACTICES OF GIPSIES, 317
future life by virtue of any supernatural gift. To
the truth of this assertion reformed gipsies Lave not
only borne testimony, but have admitted that fortuue-
telling is founded on falsehood and cunning, and that
those who practice it are often surprised that respect-
able people should be foolish enough to believe them.
Why any one should entertain a notion that a
gipsy woman enveloped in a red cloak, living an
erratic life, carrying with her a crystal ball, curious
hieroglyphics, a small bundle of sticks, and a pack
of dirty cards, should possess any supernatural
power, or why that other wrinkled old woman,
coarse and ignorant, living, it may be, with half-
a-dozen cats in a dark, smoky garret, or dusty back
room up some filthy court, should be able to draw
aside the veil which hides the future from us, is really
difficult to understand. Much as some people who
have their fortunes told pretend they do it for the
" mere fun of the thing," we may find in them a
iurking belief or hope that there really may be
something in the practice. Why should a few cards
' — pieces of coloured paper only — form a book in
Vrhich people may read their future destinies ? The
idea and the practice are alike reprehensible.
Many persons suppose that fortune-telling was in-
troduced into Europe by the gipsies. This supposi-
tion is wit bout foundation, When these wanderers
came to England, the practice was being carried
on to a great extent by others, who became so
enraged with the gipsies for professing the same
RIVALS IN FORTUNE-TELLING,
318 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
art, that they declared them deceivers and impostors.
Even now every large town in England has its astro-
logical and sleight-of-hand fortune-teller, who claims
no relationship whatever with the gipsy people.
We have been informed that the widow of a
surgeon, residing in Clerkenwell, carried on the
practice of fortune-telling with marvellous success
for a number of years. Others, equally well known
to different classes of society, have pursued this
calling in the city of London, Westminster, South-
wark, and Marylebone. Not many years since, a
man, whose name was Smith, resided in a small
street in Paddington, where he was visited not only
by servants and working people in great numbers,
but by persons in the higher grades of life, for the
purpose of consulting him about their future life and
fortune. This man assumed the name of "Zende-
vesta," which means the sacred books of the Persians,
and there is no doubt that this mysterious and
high-sounding name helped to make dupes for this
pretended and self-constituted seer, and to bring
more money to his coffers. If this " Zendevesta 99
really could not read the future, it appears he was
a good reader of human character, and well under-
stood the weaknesses of " poor humanity," as he had
a kind of sliding scale of charges for his prophetic
information, which he regulated according to what
he thought might be the pecuniary capabilities and
the anxious curiosity of the dupes who consulted
him. The law, we believe, at last overtook him,
and he had the misfortune to spend three months
in prison for his nefarious practices.
An old woman named P , who resided in a
FOR TUNE- TEL L TNG PRACTICES OF GIPSIES, 319
Mews not far from Dorset Square, was also a fortune-
teller, but of a less pretending character than the one
described. This woman was consulted chiefly by
poor people and young servant maids, to whom she
charged ninepence each, in return for which she
would give a boot-lace, for the purpose of evading
punishment by the law-
The following is a copy of a handbill, which but
a few years since was extensively circulated in
London and its suburbs. It was headed
" ASTROLOGY*
** Your nativity calculated by this noble science from
the planetary bodies; also all questions answered
relative to the date of marriage, number of children,
name of future wife or husband, whether old or
young, dark, fair, rich, poor, handsome or plain;
journeys and travels by land and sea ; absent friends ;
speculations in business, or any undertaking ; lost or
mislaid property, or property in dispute, or that has
been left by persons in England, Australia, New
Zealand, or any place abroad, within the last seventy
years, and the most ready and easy way to recover
audi property without expense until the property is
recovered. Large sums of money have been re-
covered by this information.
" State date of birth and sex. No person can be
personally consulted, and no letter taken in unless
post-jxiid.
Three questions answered for 9 stamps.
Six do do 14 do
Or the whole information 18 do
320 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
" Please enclose stamps and a stamped and directed
envelope for the reply."
Could a greater attempt at fraud and deception
even be made by a gipsy than the one contained in
the terms of the above handbill ? It is evident from
the foregoing statements that the gipsies are not the
only fortune-tellers in England, but we think are
even less ingeniously wicked in the plans they adopt
than those to whom references have been made*
Neither are gipsies alone to blame for this practice.
Remonstrate with them on this pursuit, and in nine
cases out of ten they will exonerate themselves in a
great measure from guilt, which they say should
be laid upon those who encourage them. If they
are morally guilty in pursuing such a deceptive
course as that of fortune-telling, how much too are
those to blame who, in the light of better principles
and education, sanction a practice which common
sense, the law, and the Scriptures everywhere
condemn ?
Great evils sometimes follow the encouragement
of this sinful practice. Mr. Crabb states that " a
servant girl, in Cheltenham, went to a fortune-teller,
who predicted that she would be hanged. The
prediction took such an effect upon her that she
went raving mad, and was taken to a lunatic
asylum.
We have been told on reliable authority that a
young person in Marylebone, refusing to give a
certain sum of money to a fortune-teller, was told by
her that on such a day in 6uch a month she (the
young person) would die, and that nothing could
save her.
THOMAS HKARSK, CHAIR-MEN VVAi.
CHAPTER XVII.
GIPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIODT IN GIPSYDOM,
The condition of our gipsy claimants — Claim* uf the gipsies on
philanthropic, moral, and Christian efforts, and on what they
arc founded — A problom difficult of solution — Harsh measure*
of no avail — Travelling habitations of gipsies — Kates and
taxes — Compulsory education of gipsies — A few hints to
School Board directors and agents— G ipsies won by kindness
— Duty of niin inters — Plan adopted by Laplanders — Cora-
mitteee of ladies and gentlemen, and what they might do —
Twilight in gipsydom — A gipsy missionary— The Notting-
dale gipsies — Thomas Hearno — A Kensal Green gipsy and
his story — Epping Forest gipsies — Great changes for tho
better — Encouragements to effort, Ac,
322 OUB GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
" The seraph sympathy from heaven descends,
And bright o'er earth his beaming forehead bends ;
On man's oold heart celestial ardour flings,
And showers affection from his sparkling wings ;
Bolls o'er the world his mild benignant eye,
Hears the lone murmur, drinks the whispered sigh,
Uplifts the latch of pale misfortune's door,
Opes the clenched hand of avarice to the poor ;
Unbars the prison, liberates the slave,
Sheds his soft sorrows o'er the untimely grave,
Points with uplifted hands to realms above,
And charms the world with universal love."
Although the gipsies in England have, for nearly
four centuries, lived in the midst of a civilized
community, yet but few of them, in a mental, moral
and spiritual sense, have been benefited on this
account, or by the influences of our religion. Con-
sidering that the spirit and principles of Christianity
have, on those who adopt and receive them, such a
refining and elevating tendency, it is surprising that
any one should ever doubt their general adaptation
to the condition and necessities of all the varied tribes
of human beings, whatever may be the country or
race to which they belong. Some, however, have
done so ; and we may here state that many people
have expressed their surprise at the interest we
have individually taken in the welfare of the gipsies,
and the time and labour we have bestowed upon a
people considered to be not only depraved in habits,
but vicious in disposition.
It requires no very keen penetration to see that
were the gipsies ten times worse than they really are,
it would constitute an argument ten times stronger in
favour of any effort that might be made to improve
their condition. Although, as before stated, some of
i
GIPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN GIPSY DOM. 323
OUR GIPST CLAIMANTS
have been absorbed by the dense populations of our
large towns, yet many still continue to travel from
county to county, encamping where they dare, or
pitching their tents in those secluded places where
they are the least likely to be disturbed by our rural
police- But this mode of life, in very many cases, is,
we fear, not only contrary to social order, but a great
hindrance to the education of gipsies and to a due
exercise of moral and spiritual influences over them.
This being the case, what is the voice of almost
stentorian power emanating from the condition of
these denizens of our woods and wilds, these erratic
wayfarers, these children of the mountain and glen
in city, tent, and van ? Is it not ** Come over and
help us?"
Judging from the rates of mortality in England
generally, we may safely assert that since their
introduction into this country upwards of 200,000
gipsies have passed away, comparatively but little
understood, un cared for, unsaved.
Where lies the responsibility of this? Have our
churches done their duty? Have our numerous
religious organizations brought their influence to
bear upon the social and moral condition of this
erratic people, in order to rescue them from vice
and the concomitant evils of their wandering life?
Have our civil authorities made the efforts they
ought to have done to restrain them by the gentle
hand of mercy from evading the claims of the law.
or to impose upon them their share of the duties
v 2
324 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
and responsibilities which fall upon all civilized com-
munities ? Has the Press, which so often and elo-
quently advocates the claims of heathendom on mis-
sionary enterprise and Christian benevolence, ever
wielded its powerful influence, as it should have
done, on behalf of our gipsy claimants in our own
or any other land, so that these proscribed ones
should be, as they ought to be, recognised as mem-
bers of the same brotherhood as ourselves ?
Although a few spasmodic efforts have been made
to reclaim the gipsies, some, indeed most of them,
have failed, and have been given up in despair.
The gipsies have therefore been neglected, ignored,
and left to their wandering, isolated life to constitute
an anomaly in every nation where they exist. Let us
see that the sin of animosity against this strange race
and neglect of their claims do not lie at our door.
The claims of gipsies on our sympathy, and efforts
to amend in every way their condition, are founded
upon several specific things, to some of which we
may briefly refer.
1. Gipsies can claim relationship, both of a
physical, mental, and spiritual nature, with all the
rest of the great human family.
Man is nowhere distinguished from his fellow-man
by any great dissimilarity in physical constitution.
In all the passions of the human soul, in natural
sympathies, in mental capabilities, and in vicious
propensities, there is no wide difference.
In speaking of the unity of the human family, Mr.
Ward remarks that " a consideration of the physical,
mental, and moral peculiarities of different races,
and of the religious nature by which they are all
OIPSF CLAIMANTS 4SD TWILIGHT IN GIPSYDOM. 325
characterized, proves most conclusively that they
are to be regarded merely as varieties of one
species .... that all mankind are but one family,
and descended from common parents ..... With the
extension of Christianity, we may anticipate the
period when, instead of race being, as now, opposed
to race, there will be but one heart for the whole
mass of humanity, and every pulse in each particular
vessel shall beat in concert with it. The certainty
of the common nature and origin of all mankind
cannot fail of bringing us as individuals into closer
intimacy one with another, and collectively with the
common Father of all/'
In reference to the higher nature of man, the
same kind of similarity exists. Is it true that those
of the noblest birth have within them that indestruct-
ible spark of immortality we call the soul ? Let it
not be deemed invidious when we assert that every
uncouth, unlettered wayside gipsy has also en-
shrined within his rough exterior an undying soul,
whose destiny is eternal, a gem whose value is
beyond all price, and which if lost, u the riches
of India can never replace/' Having in a pre-
vious chapter shown that gipsies possess, at least,
ordinary capabilities of education, and that many
instances are known in which they have not
only displayed great aptitude for learning, but
regretted the want of proper facilities for obtaining
knowledge, we need advance nothing more on this
point to prove the claims of this people on our
sympathy and efforts, in order to induce them to
become respectable and useful citizens, as well as
devoted, intelligent, and consistent Christians.
326 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
2. Another reason we would urge for philan-
thropic effort amongst the gipsies is that their
uncertain and erratic mode of life operates prejudi-
cially against the effects and advantages of human-
izing influences.
It may be said that the gipsies are happy and con-
tented with their wild freedom, and are willing to
endure the privations incident to their own mode
of existence. This is no doubt perfectly true, and
no one could hardly expect it to be otherwise. They
have been bred, born, and brought up in this way,
and know nothing of the advantages of a higher and
better way of life, and therefore cannot be expected
either to aspire to them or to appreciate them as we
have been taught to do. The idea gipsies entertain
of our mode of life is that it imposes restraints
and duties they do not care to submit to. Hence
the difficulty in trying to induce them to give up
their wandering habits.
It does not, however, follow because they are
satisfied in perpetuating their isolated life that no
effort should be made to improve their condition.
We may as well say, leave the Fejee islander to
the tcorship of his god Udengei, who in his sub-
terranean abode is deified by him ; trouble him not
with another faith, do not give him a nobler object
of adoration.
Taking the lowest ground, even the physical
miseries to which the great majority of gipsies are
subject should constitute an impetus to every
attempt made to ameliorate their social condition.
Look at their fragile habitations, at the tattered
canvas of many of their tents, pitched often under a
0IP8Y CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN QIPSYDOM. 327
leafless hedge in a damp lane ; their exposure to the
inclemencies of every season, to the biting wind
and the nipping frosts; how much they endure of
physical suffering inflicted upon them by cold and
hunger, which is often their lot during the months
of winter.
Although we claim no perfection for human or-
ganizations, yet, as a people, we have as mild a
form of government, as good civil arrangements
and advantages, as much impartiality of justice, and
certainly as good a political constitution for the
enterprises of commerce as any other kingdom in
the world. But in the habits and manners of the
gipsy race have we not laxity and disorder, and a
mode of life permitted which affords every facility
for the violation of our laws, and every means of
evading the punishment due to crime ?
Although the poorest amongst us must contri-
bute their quota towards the revenue of the country,
and the government of our cities, towns, and vil-
lages, these voluntary wanderers are exempt from
many of those taxes which a domesticated state
would necessarily impose upon them.
Every man who enjoys as his birthright the free*
dom of Englishmen, who has the protection of our
laws, and who may share each national advantage
if he will, should be made to bear his part of the
general burden, and to support the government by
which he is protected, In these particulars would
not our rulers be justified in interfering, and in im-
proving the state ^of society generally, by greater
uniformity of social and domestic habits, and by an
equalization of local and national resources ?
328 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
The interference of government may be regarded
by some as an uncalled for invasion upon the civil
liberty of the gipsies; but while their freedom is
unfortunately associated with so much ignorance, it
would be far better by this interference to remove
the causes which help to produce it, and to improve
the condition of this people, than to allow them to
continue in a course fraught with so many evils.
3. Another motive for benevolent and Christian
effort amongst these wandering tribes may be
urged on the ground of the injurious influences
exercised on others by some of the practices of this
nomadic race.
Some persons regard the gipsies as being so
depraved and steeped in villainy as not to deserve a
thought or an effort to redeem them. This we deny.
And that they are not more morally diseased than
thousands of our own people who lay claim to
greater advantages is clearly evident from our
daily and weekly police reports.
Bad as the gipsies may really be, they have never
been guilty of more atrocious crimes than those
which are constantly being committed by men who
are not gipsies.
That some members of the gipsy race have pre-
sented fearful instances of depravity is beyond all
doubt. But they have been in most cases the
inevitable consequences of ignorance, and too often
the result of certain associations. It is true they
have been dishonest in various ways, and that
occasionally they have exhibited an amount of
brutality towards each other of the most disgraceful
character ; but even this has arisen, in the majority
GIPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN GIPSY DOM. 329
of cases, from circumstances rather than from any
really inherent evil characteristics, ,
Without enumerating all those practices of the
gipsy people which are morally wrong, and from
which many evils may flow to the injury of others,
we may again refer to the pernicious influence of
fortune-telling ; a practice which in their wanderings
they can carry on with less fear of detection than
they could do if they were permanently located in
a house or van in a town or village, where their
means of subsistence would be readily known by
others-
Female gipsies, and particularly fortune-tellers,
have many opportunities in their clandestine inter-
views with servants and others of prompting them
to acts of dishonesty, in order to meet the extor-
tionate demands of these pretenders to prophetic
inspiration*
It is not unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that
numerically insignificant as they may comparatively
be, the 18,000 if not 20,000 gipsies in Great Britain
ulutie must introduce an element of great moral evil
amidst the population of our country.
But the reclamation and reformation of the gipsies
is
A PROBLEM DIFFICULT OF SOLUTION,
and the question may be asked, what means are to be
employed to accomplish this desirable object ? Our
personal knowledge of the gipsy people compels us
to say, which we do emphatically, that harsh measures
will be of no avail ; they would tend rather to widen
the breach between the Church, civilized life, and
330 OUS GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
themselves, than to attract them towards either. It
has been very sensibly observed that " there is not
the least prospect of doing them good by forcing
instruction upon them/'
About the year 1748 the Empress Theresa at-
tempted the improvement of the gipsies of Germany,
by taking away, by force, all their children of a
certain age, in order to educate and protect them;
but such an unnatural and arbitrary mode of bene-
volence defeated its own object ; and this is not to
be wondered at; the souls of the free resist every
effort of compulsion, whether the object be good or
bad. Compulsory instruction, therefore, would do
no good among the gipsies.
It may be said, " What is the use of pointing
out a disease unless you can suggest a remedy?"
The peculiar circumstances of the gipsy race render
it exceedingly difficult to know what means would be
the most likely to meet every requirement of their
condition.
So far as special laws have been passed respecting
the gipsies both here and on the Continent, as we
have previously shown, they have signally failed,
in nearly every case, in accomplishing the objects
for which they were enacted.
The interference of law with the sanitary con-
dition of this people, both as to their living and
sleeping accommodation, would be justifiable, espe-
cially where there are several members belonging
to the same tent or vans.
If the authority and duty of sanitary inspectors
be duly performed and put into force with the gipsies
in the same way as they are with us and our
SY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN G1P8YDQM. 3UI
dwelling houses, we may imagine a great improve-
ment would take place in their social life.
It should, we think, be made a special part of the
duty of such inspectors in every town and village
in England where they are appointed, at once
visit these wanderers whenever their tents and
vans have been pitched within the limits of the
districts over which such inspectors are appointed.
If this were done in every place, and the law in
this respect carried into effect, the gipsies would soon
understand that it would be .to their interest at all
times to comply with it, while it would not in any
way interfere with their free and peculiar mode of
life. We think that such improvement in the social
condition of the gipsy people would very considerably
help to lessen the antipathy existing against them.
We will now refer to another importaut matter
connected with the life and habits of this wandering
race, which, although continually presenting itself to
the public at large, may not have received the
special attention either of local authorities or of our
legislators. We refer to the
TRAVELLING HABITATIONS OF UirSIES,
Going from town to town and from one part of the
country to another, gipsies could hardly evade pay-
ment of the duty put upon all four wheeled and two
wheeled carriages, but we are not aware that the
following facts have ever received due consideration.
A few of the better class of gipsies possess vans
which have cost more money than the same number
f some of the cottages and tenements occupied by
332 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
our own people, not only in outlying districts, but
even in thickly populated towns, and for which they
have, in some way or other, to pay the tax imposed
upon all dwelling houses, as well as poor and other
rates levied upon them.
We see no reason why the gipsies should not be
expected to pay the same rates and taxes for their
travelling habitations as we do for our stationary
ones. Were the gipsies to do this they would be
contributing their share, though a small one, towards
our parochial and national expenses. An evasion of
the payment of these taxes could easily be prevented
by the collector of them visiting gipsy encampments,
or an isolated family, as soon as he hears they are in
his own locality, and demanding either the payment
of such rates, or to see the receipt for the same,
though given in another district.
Although we never saw a gipsy pay a tax for a
dog, and never heard of one doing so, such a thing
may have taken place. Nevertheless, this is a matter
worth consideration, as gipsies are fond of dogs,
often keep a good many of them, and, it may be,
for more purposes than one.
The next and certainly not the least important
matter we have to look into and examine is the
COMPULSORY EDUCATION OP GIPSIES.
However well the system of compulsory education
may work among the poor aud others living in popu-
lous towns and districts, such an attempt we think
would be futile among the gipsies. It would be of
no use for an agent of the School Board, armed as
G7PSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN GIPSY DOM 333
he might be with the authority of the law, to go
amongst this people and to say in an overbearing
peremptory manner, "Now then, I've come to tell
yon you must send your children to school at once,
and send them regularly too; because if you don't,
we shall soon make you tell us the reason why,
and punish you in the bargain for your neglect,"
The hold, free, and independent spirit of genuine
gipsy men, and women too, would indignantly and
defiantly resent such authority and compulsory mode
of treatment, and rather than comply would have
recourse to the most ingenious stratagems to evade
the demands of the School Board, or any coercive
measure that might be resorted to for this purpose.
And if they could not do so by any other means,
they would very unexpectedly a move off" and travel
on to another district.
What then is to be done with them in reference to
their education ? Their general ignorance is a blot
on our civilization ; and something must be done to
wipe it out, so that we may not he a standing
reproach in the eyes of other nations. A great
student of the gipsy character says that,
GIPSIES ARE EASILY WON BY KINDNESS,
and whoever wishes really to benefit them must
convince them that this is his intention, by patiently
hearing with the unpleasant parts of their characters,
and by a willingness to lessen their distresses as far
as it is in his power. Let even a compulsory
education agent adopt this plan, and he will find it
will not be lost upon them.
334 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
But we would suggest that both he and the teachers
in our schools should use their influence in breaking
down the prejudices of our own poople, who so often
object to gipsy children mingling with their own;
and also to do all they can to convince gipsy parents
that their children shall have every proper attention,
and the same interest taken in their success as may
be shown and paid to others.
To make the above plan work beneficially, the
directors or committee of any school gipsy children
have attended should instruct the master or mistress
of such school to keep a register of the attendance
and conduct of such children, and to supply their
parents with a copy thereof, so that when they are
compelled to remove to another part of the country,
this copy would be an introduction and a recom-
mendation to another school, and so, if all should not
be gained that could be desired, some good would
at least be effected.
If the same plan should be adopted by our
parochial clergy, whose schools should also be open
to the children of these wayfarers, equal success
would no doubt crown their efforts.
We believe the migratory Laplanders who travel
from place to place form themselves into clans or
bodies composed of considerable numbers, and that
belonging to each body is a teacher, who is also a
religious instructor, and lives and travels with them,
so that the education of these Lapland nomads may
not be neglected.
Although this plan would hardly be practicable
in regard to English gipsies, on account of the small-
ness of the numbers who travel together, yet if in
GIPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN GIPSTDOM. 335
every town and village committees of ladies and gen-
tlemen could be appointed to note the immigration of
gipsies into their several localities, and then in the
spirit of Christian kindness talk to them, invite them
to listen to useful reading, to short religious services
where they are encamped, and to invite them to
attend some place of worship, then, as surely as the
mow melts by the warmth of the sun, bo will gipsies
be affected by the power of generous actions.
In reverting to the education of gipsy children,
the question as to what subjects it should comprise
is one of paramount importance. To give them an
exclusively secular one would, we think, do more
Ijann than good, especially while the home influences,
examples, and surroundings peculiar to their life
remain what they are.
If moral and religious instruction be withheld
from them, how are their evil habits, vicious pro-
pensities, and other objectionable proclivities to be
corrected and prevented ? and how are they to learn
to he honest, upright in life, and virtuous in
conduct ? If they are not taught the great funda-
mental principles which really constitute the higher
characteristics of all civilized and Christianized
communities, what notions are they likely to form
of the Divine Being? of their own nature and
responsibilities ? of their obligations to the govern-
ment under which they live, and their duty, not
only to each other, but even that of humanity to the
lower animals ?
We hardly need say their notions would be very
distorted, and the duties we have referred to would
in a great measure be disregarded by them. While
336 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
we must admit that a secular education has its uses,
and is necessary, yet in the case of gipsy children we
would enforce the necessity of combining with it
moral and religious instruction ; otherwise, how are
they ever to occupy a respectable status either in
civil or religious society ?
TWILIGHT IN GIPSYDOM.
We have now arrived at a pleasing part of our
duty in reference to this mysterious but interesting
race — the gipsies. The cloud of ignorance, which
for so many centuries has hung over them, is
dispersing, and the expectant eye of the philan-
thropist may see signs of twilight, cheering in-
dicators of future brightness to this long neglected
people.
We shall now refer to a few instances in which
good has been effected by individual efforts among
the gipsies.
About fifty years ago the late Rev. James Crabb
made an effort to reclaim these wanderers and
improve their condition, by frequent visits to their
camping places in Hampshire, on which occasions he
would enter into familiar conversation with them
respecting the difficulties of their way of life. He
would also offer to them, in a spirit of kindness,
useful suggestions as to the best means of making
their lives happier than they were, as well as by
showing his sympathy towards them in a thoroughly
practical way. He would read and expound to them
the Scriptures in the most simple but effective
manner. He opened a free school near his own resi-
GIPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN GIPSYDOM. 337
denoe, at which the children of those gipsies tenting
near were invited to attend, free of all expense to
them. He prevailed upon several adult gipsies to
locate in houses, and to attend religious worship in
a mission room erected by his own efforts, and for
which he appointed a lay teacher and preacher at
He own expense, particularly for the gipsies and the
*ery poor of the district
Three sisters of the name of Carter, who had led
a gipsy Kfe for more than fifty years, were induced
to give it up, to live in a house, and to attend the
services in the mission room to which we have
referred, and which they continued to do till within
a short period of their death. Testimony is borne
to their sincerity and consistent conduct, and also
to the happy termination of the lives of all of them,
A gipsy man known as u Blind Solomon," who in
his earlier life had been one of the most wicked and
desperate members of the gipsy tribes that ever was
k*iown, became, by the same efforts, a changed man,
lived a godly, consistent, and happy life, although
^ e was poor, and had to earn a precarious living by
^afeing baskets, which he con tinned to do as long as
^ e possibly could. His resignation to his terrible
a ^iction — deprivation of sight— had a wonderful
^^>Bct upon others of his own tribe, who were corn-
tilled to admit there was more in Christianity than
^ l §y had ever believed.
A GIPSY MISSIONARY,
William Stanley, a gipsy, who at one time had been
a soldier, became a convert to Christianity, and was
338 OUli GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
appointed as a Scripture reader among his own people.
After hearing a sermon in one of the chapels in
Exeter from the words, " Let me die the death of
the righteous, and let my last end be like his," he
became changed both in heart and life, and so
much did he deplore his inability to read, that he
resolved, though late in life, to learn to do so. This
he accomplished, and so qualified himself in this
particular, as well as in others, for the duties of the
work in which he was to be engaged.
It is said that his discourses on Scripture subjects
were characterized by sound judgment and clearness
of perception . His style was unpretending, but there
was much fervid eloquence in his simplicity. He
was the means of inducing several gipsies to abandon
their bad practices, and to attend places of worship,
as well as to lead better lives. In the midst of his
usefulness, however, he died, and by his death the
gipsies lost a warm friend and advocate, and a good
spiritual adviser.
THE NOTTING DALE GIPSIES.
When we first knew this colony of wayfarers they
were not only greater in numbers than now, but in
a very benighted condition both morally and spiritu-
ally. By the efforts of an agent of the London City
Mission, and those of some energetic and benevolent
ladies, which were specially directed to these gipsy
outcasts, much good was done, not only by personal
visits to their tents and vans, but by little social
gatherings in a small room adjacent to this gipsy
colony, where interesting readings were given, short
t^-XPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN QIPSYDOM. 339
discourses of a simple character delivered, and now
^Hfcd then a free tea given to those who thought
Proper to attend . On one occasion we gave a lecture
the gipsy race, in a schoolroom engaged for the
Purpose, and at which a large number of the gipsies
*^«re present, all of whom were apparently surprised
what could be said about themselves, As they
listened attentively, we concluded they were inter-
cepted in what they had heard.
On the occasion of our visit to this gipsy camping
^Tround in Notting Dale we noticed particularly the
^*-;|>proach to one of the vane occupied by a gipsy
^^^mily. Several sticks wero placed a little way apart
^^Dnning two distinct rows, each about twenty feet
^>ng ? the width between the rows being about four
^^et; while other sticks bent in tent-stick fashion
^^"eached from the top of one row to the other* Here and
^^-herc climbing plants, amongst which was the honey-
suckle, had been placed; these had run up the sticks
• md covered the entire top, so that the approach to
^this van was not only grateful to look upon, but a
most efl&ctG&l screen from the heat of the sun. This
'van belonged to one of the gipsies who had bwn
induced to believe in the religious principles and
precepts of Christianity, We have a special recol-
lection of one of the Notting Dale gipsies, named
Hearne, who was well known, not only in that im-
mediate locality, but a considerable distance beyond,
as a dmir-mentler, wlii* h employment lie secured
by his well known stentorian voice calling our,
" Chairs to mend, Chairs to mend."
Although he had been during a great part of his
life in a deplorably ignoraut and depraved state of
340 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
morals and of mind, a change was effected in his
life, and it is said he was a consistent member of
the temperance society for thirty years; that he
received readily any religious instruction others
were inclined to give him, and that at the advanced
age of nearly one hundred years he died a happy
and peaceful death.
Other Notting Dale gipsies, some of whom had
grown old in crime and ignorance, became reformed
characters, and attended religious services regularly,
and with apparent benefit.
Not long since a gipsy woman of the Stanley
family, who had been a domestic servant, married a
man of our own race and lived in Paddington, where
both of them were members and communicants of the
Church of England, and, we were told, exemplified
by their lives the sincerity and genuineness of their
professions. We knew another gipsy woman who
was baptized by immersion, and became a member of
a Baptist church in Dalston.
Present at a lecture we gave on gipsies in a mission
hall, Notting Hill, were three converted gipsies, all
of whom, by the request of — Fordham, Esq., related
in a simple but earnest manner, before a very large
audience, the particular circumstances which induced
them to give up their old wicked mode of obtaining
a living, and to adopt other means more honest,
upright and Christian.
A KENS A h GREEN QIPSY.
It was towards the decline of a beautiful spring
day thai we happened to be in the locality just
mentioned, where ^re met an aged gipsy man,
GIPSY CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN GIPSYDOM. 341
belonging to the Hearnes, and living in a tent close
by, As this man appeared to us to bo no "posh and
posh gipsy," we felt considerable interest in. him, and
will therefore give a brief personal description of him.
He was about seventy years old, and must have
been at one time a fine specimen of gipsy manhood.
Even then he was in good health, tolerably active,
and upright in posture* His eyes were dark, clear,
and piercing ; his cheek bones somewhat prominent ;
nose inclined to the aquiline type ; lips rather thin
and compressed ; his hair was then grey, but he
told us it had been as w black as a coal/ 1 He had
allowed it to grow so long that when he combed
it behind his ears it hung just over the collar of his
coat.
His habiliments consisted of corduroy small clothes,
red vest and neckerchief, blue stockings, and the
jacket of the "right sort/* with the usual deep,
capacious, and convenient pockets. He carried a
stout walking stick with a ponderous knob, which
he said he used, not only to help him along, but
for protecting him against a canine or any other
intruder.
In conversation with this gipsy man we gathered
some interesting particulars relating to his past
history. It appears his life had been spent, as
gipsy lives usually are, in wandering up and down
the country, obtaining but a precarious living,
sometimes honestly, and also otherwise ; and that
he had been in entire ignorance of his Maker and
of the Christian religion until within a very short
time, when some one paid him a visit, and asked to
he allowed to read the Scriptures to him. To this
342 OUB GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
he consented, " because," as he said, " if there's no
good in it, there can't be any harm."
It appears that, simple as the means used on this
occasion happened to be, they were thoroughly
effectual in bringing about the result sought to be
obtained. The entrance of God's word gave light
to the old man's mind ; his mental eyes were opened ;
his heart was touched and softened too ; he began to
think, to reflect, to look back upon a wasted life;
and forward to a never ending state of being ; all
of which led on to a change of thought, feeling,
desires, and aspirations; in one word, he became
repentant, and as far as he could understand them,
laid hold on the principles of Christianity.
" Ah, sir," said this aged gipsy, 44 it's better and
happier days with me and some of our folks now
than it was when we lived in sin and neglect But
you would hardly believe, sir, that we have a good
many difficulties to contend with, and that some of
our women have great temptations to carry on their
old practices of fortune-telling, and promises of good
payment if they will do so. But they won't do it,
sir. It was only the other day that two servant
girls came to the tent of one of our women, and
wanted to have their fortunes told, and they had
the money ready to give her."
44 Did the gipsy tell the girls their fortune ? " we
inquired.
44 0, yes," replied the old man ; 44 but it was one
they didn't quite expect ; it was this, 4 The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' The girls left
the tent, and never came again. Folks don't like
fortunes of that sort you see, sir ; I mean those who
QIP8Y CLAIMANTS AND TWILIGHT IN O IPS Y DOM 3i;j
consult fortune-tellers." The old man then bade us
u good-evening and walked slowly onward to his
tent. Much as some people might have questioned
his sincerity and truthfulness, we had no reason
to doubt either. He asked for no favour; so that
bis motive in relating to us what lie had done was
not to work upon our sympathy for any pecuniary
or other benefit, but simply to make known the good
that had been effected among his own people in that
particular locality, The dawning light of gipsy re-
formation is slowly increasing in power and bright-
ness. Even in Epping Forest, which from time im-
memorial (until within a short period) has been a
camping place for the gipsies, a marvellous work
has been carried on. Some time since a largo canvas
tent waa erected and used by gipsies for religious
worship, conducted, in many instances, by gipsy
converts to the faith of Christ, Gipsy lay preachers
may now be heard both indoors and out of doors,
proclaiming to assembled multitudes u wonderful
words of life " in various parts of London.
flow miraculous and yet encouraging is the fact
that men belonging to the scattered, outlawed gipsy
race, hated, despised, neglected, maligned, and per-
secuted in every land, should now be seen working
for the moral and spiritual beuefit, not only of their
own people, but for the welfare of others.
The success which has attended Christian efforts
among the gipsies shows that they are a fine material
to work upon, and that it is the duty of the Church
to send her members to visit the gipsies wherever
they may be found, whether on our moors, in our
lanea, in the recesses of our forests, in our glens, on
344 OUB GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
oar mountain sides, or in the low localities of our
large towns, in our pea-fields, our hop plantations,
or even when travelling the high-roads or by-paths
of our country, to invite them kindly and gently
to receive instruction, and to attend to the higher
moral and spiritual duties of life.
May the time soon arrive when the Church every-
where will fully recognize its duly to these wan-
derers, and when all men shall believe in
u The fatherhood of God,
And the brotherhood of man."
The narrative contained in the following verses is
a true one, and is interesting because it shows on
the one hand that wealth and high position need not
constitute any barrier to the possession of Christian
principles, nor to a desire to do good ; on the other
hand, it shows that neither poverty nor a despised
or low condition of life can prevent an earnest
longing on the part of any human being to partici-
pate in those moral and spiritual influences which
more than anything elm elevate the mind, inspire
the son), and dignify the character of man.
In this simple but touching story we see the
meekness, love, and humility of the cross blending
with regal dignity, and we may fancy how eagerly
and thankfully the gipsy woman would receive those
words of consolation which fell from the lips of the
king.
Although the contrast between the two persons
referred to was very great^ the one a monarch over
millions of subjects, the other an outcast gipsy
woman spurned by the world as a pest, both of
them were children of the same universal and
benevolent Father. •
In England once a King did reign,
A king of great renown ;
Whose piety and kindness too
Throughout this realm wore known.
346 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
From this the splendours of his throne
Did greater brightness borrow ;
For this king's heart would always feel
Far human woe and sorrow.
The peasant in his humble homo,
The way-worn and opprest,
Were greeted by his friendly smile,
And by his bounty blest.
A simple story I'll relate,
Adorn'd with truth and beauty,
Which breathes of love's persuasive power,
And tells to man his duty.
To hunt the stag the monarch went
One beautiful, fresh morn ;
And far o'er Windsor forest wide
Was heard the huntsman's horn.
" Halloo ! halloo ! " the sportsmen cried ;
The yelping hounds did follow,
In hot pursuit, the frightened stag,
Through many a brake and hollow.
At length it reaoh'd the river's brink,
Then crossed the flowing tide ;
And from its foes a refuge found,
Safe on the other side.
To bo thus foil'd, to hunting men,
Was sure a sad disaster ;
Still on they wont, — but left behind
Their noble royal master.
The King rode gently to tho oaks,
To wait his men returning ;
m But knew not that so near tho spot
A gipsy's fire was burning.
A sound then reached the good King's ears ;
Twas one of deep distress ;
A plaintive human voice cried out,
44 Oh ! God, my mother bless."
THE KING AND THE DYING GIPSY.
347
On a green plot beneath an oak
Was, on a pallet lying,
Half sheltered by a tattered tent,
A gipsy woman dying*
A sun-burnt girl, close by the tree,
Had knelt her down to pray ;
Her earnest, piteous voice had led
Tho King to rido that way.
"Why do you weep, my child ? " ho asked,
Just like a tender brother.
With sobbing heart the girl replied,
" O I sir, my dying mothor."
Dismounting from his steed, he turned
To whore the gipsy lay ;
On him sho turn'd her languid eyes,
But not a word could say.
The silver cord was loos'd — the wheel
Was at tho cistern broken ;
Her feoblo form was fading fast,
Death's sure, unerring token.
Another gipsy girl appeared
Beside the mothor kneeling,
Whose pallid lips she kiss'd with all
Love's pure and fervid fooling.
! what a pleasing, touching sight,
A noble King to seo,
In converse with those gipsy girls,
Beneath that old oak tree.
Ho saw their tears that kind good King,
And tried to sootho their sorrow ;
For well ho know those gipsy girls
Would orphans bo to-morrow.
44 O ! sir," began the elder girl,
" 'Twas very late last night
1 left tho tent, reach'd yonder town
Long ere the morning light.
348 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
A minister I sought — and walked
From one place to another ;
But no one oonld I get to come
To pray with my dear mother."
The dying woman turn'd her eyes
To where the trio stood ;
Then cries of deep distress again
Re-echoed through the wood.
Dark clouds of grief now gather'd fast
Around that fragile dwelling ;
While pale-faced sickness, cold and stern,
Its doleful tale was telling.
But bright as morning beams which come
From an unclouded sky,
So peace came in those precious words,
" A minister am I."
Forgetting crowns and royal birth,
And all which they inherit,
The monarch took the gipsy's hand,
Then spoke of sin's demerit.
He told of Christ, of Heaven to come,
Where all life's conflicts cease ;
Where e'en a way-side gipsy may
Find everlasting peace.
Hope's calm bright sunshine fill'd her heart,
And joy divine was given ;
She smil'd, then died, and angels bore
Her ransom'd soul to heaven.
The day was waning fast — and night
Was creeping on apace ;
When in the wood were horsemen seen
Returning from the chase.
On, on they rode, at length they reached
That scone of deep affliction ;
They saw their King, and heard him too
In silent admiration.
TEE KING AND THE DYING OIPSY. 349
They saw him bless those gipsy girls ;
With gold their wants supply ;
And listen'd, as he bade them look
To Him who lives on high.
While down his own right royal face
The briny tears were stealing ;
Within his noble, generous heart,
Was love's pure earnest feeling.
And so it proved — for in that hour
Of Nature's greatest need,
Those weeping girls found in the King
A kind true friend indeed.
The King then pointed to the corpse,
Now freed from earthly labour ;
Ask'd of Lord L. f " Who thinkest thou
Was that poor woman's neighbour ? "
True neighbours they whose acts of love
Peace to the sorrowing bring ;
Then, gentle reader, ne'er forget
The Gipsies and the King.
Vernon S. Morwood.
350 OUR GIPSIES IN CITY, TENT, AND VAN.
THE GIPSIES' APPEAL.
Tune—" Sweet Home."
Ye Christians of England, whoso sympathies glow
For a world wrapt in darkness, and shrouded in woo ;
Whoso heralds of mercy, a band true and bravo,
Go forth the dark pagan and savage to save.
Chorus.
Hear, hear, hear tho prayer
Of tho poor wandering Gipsy, the child of despair.
O ! listen awhile to the sorrows which pour
From tho lano, and tho hedge, and tho bleak desert moor ;
Regard the strong claims ; hear tho voice of the prayer
Of tho poor wandering Gipsy, the child of despair.
Hear, hear, &c.
Ye Christians of England, who willingly raise
Your houses of mercy, and altars of praise ;
Wo ask not for gold, something greater wo cravo,
'Tis tho boon of instruction, the Gipsies to save.
Hear, hoar, &c.
For years wo have travers'd tho faco of tho earth,
And thousands have gone to the regions of death
Unhoeded, despis'd, and abandon'd by all :
Great God I wilt not Thou hear tho poor Gipsies' call ?
Hear, hear, &c.
The bright hours of morcy will soon pass away ;
0, Christians, be activo while yet it is day ;
Withhold not the boon of Salvation that's given,
Then Gipsies may join in tho chorus of Heaven.
Hear, hear, &c.
Vernon S. MoRwoon.
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4
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6
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8
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9
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ii
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12
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14
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